A Fire of Devotion Part 4: Hotter Than Hell
by ZeusParker
Summary: Seven and Sam finally get the chance to settle in their new lives together, Captain Janeway opens her heart again, Neelix gets an unexpected second chance, and finally the mysterious cause of the degradation of the Borg is revealed.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: And so we're about to enter (after a **far** too long hiatus) the final chapter of _Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion_. I have to admit, I didn't expect when I opened the Google Doc file for this thing in mid-2015 that I would actually enjoy working on this. It may have come across in my other Author's Notes, and in the story itself that I don't like _Voyager_ all that much. I don't **hate** it, let me make that clear. There have been worse TV shows I've regrettably sat through (I watched all 8 seasons of _Charmed_ ), and actually, in recent years I've really softened on the show. Most of my problems with it still remain, but in re-watching the series while I worked on this project I found little things here and there that I missed the first time around that I actually kind of liked. Even the bad ones gave me some enjoyment in making fun of them. I'm glad I've re-watched the series now. And hey, on the off-chance that there actually were people who shipped Seven of Nine and Samantha Wildman before I wrote this thing, I hope you found this and enjoyed it. Both of you. ;)

As for the relationship that drives this 4-parter, it's time to revisit something I said in the notes for part 1; that I did not think they should've tried to pair up Seven and Sam on the show. I still feel that way for the most part, but my reasons have changed. Could they have done it on the show and made it work? Possibly, but that would require _so_ many things to come together that it's unlikely it would've. Honestly, had they made that choice to have Trek's first canon same-sex couple on _Voyager_ instead of _DS9_ , does anyone honestly think they would actually write a relationship for them? This is _Voyager_ we're talking about here. What would most likely happen is they'd just have Jeri Ryan and Nancy Hower tongue-kiss a few times during sweeps, if that much. And then they'd kill Sam off in the final season for cheap pathos. *cough*Joe Carey*cough*. I hate to sound so cynical, but for every really good episode this show had, it had several downright audience insulting ones. So yeah, I still think they shouldn't have done this on the show, but only because of my lack of faith in the _Voyager_ writing staff to handle such a thing seriously instead of just trying to give the audience spank bank material.

In addition, I want to give you a heads up regarding the adaptation of "Shattered" in chapter 5; I do regret taking away one of the few decent Chakotay-centric episodes in the show and giving it to Seven, but since it was one of the episodes whose _SF Debris_ review inspired this idea, and I already skipped "Bliss"... At least I was able to give him "One Small Step" back. Oh, in case you didn't know the script for that one originally called for Chakotay to be the one who recovered the old Earth ship's records, but last minute the producers decided to make it a "Seven learns the value of history" story and kinda screwed Beltran over.

Two more things; 1) while not technically a part of the "A Fire of Devotion" series, you may want to read my other _Voyager_ fic, "Jetrel Redux", as that takes place in the same continuity as AFoD, and seeds I planted there pay off here in Part 4, specifically when I re-work the episode "Homestead." 2) I did not, until after the 1st draft was completed, find out that Ensign Wildman's parents had names that were considered canon by Memory Alpha. Also, she has a sister. Kinda wish I'd known that sooner. My bad.

 **Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion  
Part 4 of 4: Hotter Than Hell**

By Zeus Parker

 **Prologue**

A solitary Borg drone floats in space. The last surviving drone of a destroyed cube. The last cube destroyed in a war that the Collective forgot even happened, that everyone forgot happened. Through its still functioning visual receptor it sees the dead ship, the one that destroyed its cube before being crippled itself, possibly the only ship of the enemy left in this universe after all the others were destroyed.

The drone holds out hope for a rescue, for a return to the collective, to the many voices speaking as one. It holds out for as long as it can, but no cube, no sphere, no diamond comes. Soon its grip on sanity leaves it, and in the silent vacuum of deep space it mouths the word of the enemy, the word the Borg drones who were massacred and disassembled for spare parts heard over and over again at the height of battle.  
 _Delete._

 _Delete._

 _Delete._

 **Chapter One**

Captain Janeway went through the motions of being a Borg drone, every moment tense with the possibility that the Collective would realize that while she and her team could hear them, the Borg did not control them. Very carefully she took note of every detail of the level they were on, fortunate that she and the others had not been separated.

 _Tom was right, this was a horrible plan_ , she thought. _Fortune favors the bold_ , _but you've got to know the difference between 'bold' and 'moron.'_

She pushed aside her doubts, and walked down the corridor, mimicking the movements of the drones around her. She passed Marla Gilmore, who worked on a console, her expression flat. Janeway nodded at her subtly. Gilmore nodded back in acknowledgment. Both women glanced around. There were other drones, closer than Janeway would've liked, but hopefully not close enough to hear her whisper.

"Have you seen Vorik or Tuvok?"

"Vorik is at the other end of this corridor working on a subjunction," Gilmore whispered back. "I haven't seen Tuvok."

"Hopefully he's already en route to the central plexus," Janeway whispered. Gilmore opened her mouth to reply but the sound of metal footsteps on a metal floor stopped her. A pair of drones walked past. Once they were gone, Janeway looked around to make sure no one could see her tap Gilmore on the shoulder.

"We need to go," she said. "Now."

"One moment, Captain," Gilmore said. "I just need one more second to- ah, there we go."

An alarm sounded in the distance.

"What did you just do?"

"They were going to find out we weren't properly assimilated sooner rather than later, so I found a way to create false positives. I do feel bad for the random drones on the lower levels whose day I just ruined though."

"Good work," Janeway said. "How long does that buy us?"

"An hour at most," Gilmore said, standing up and heading towards the central plexus right away. Janeway simply followed her, silently relieved that Gilmore felt guilt for what she had just done. It was all too easy to forget that Borg drones weren't just victimizers but victims as well. She wouldn't judge Marla though.

 _I've lost count of how many drones I've killed or ordered killed in combat,_ Janeway thought. _If I stopped to think about it… Best that I don't._

* * *

"Time?" Chakotay said, wondering if it was good or bad that he wasn't worried about the away team. Or at least not yet. _They're on a Borg supercube for spirit's sake_ , he thought. _Shouldn't I be at least a little nervous?_

"Seventeen minutes," Tom said. "We should've heard something by now."

"Maybe not," Chakotay said. "It's a big ship and the away team is going to be on foot, and having to maintain cover. Let's not panic just yet."

"Their higher brain functions are stable again," The Doctor said.

"The cube is changing course," Harry said. "New heading, 121 mark 6."

"Tom?" Chakotay said.

"Already matching course and speed," Tom said.

"Let's just hope they don't go into transwarp," Harry said.

Chakotay did wonder why that hadn't happened yet. In fact, he still found it a mystery as to why a Class-4 cube would be outside Borg space at all, let alone this far away. He realized he wanted to know that almost as much as he wanted to rescue the people in Unimatrix Zero.

"Do your best to keep up," Chakotay said to Tom. "Seven's still in Unimatrix Zero right now. If the virus is released, they'll be the first to know, so once she comes out again we'll know for sure."

* * *

"Tell your hunters to patrol the northeastern perimeter," Korok said to a Hirogen as they re-entered the main camp. "More drones were spotted there."

Seven and Axum watched them pass by before returning to their own conversation.

"Any theories as to why the gap between the most recent attack and the last was so long?" Axum said.

"None," Seven said. "Were we dealing with anyone other than the Borg I would assume it was an attempt to lull us into a false sense of security."

"Not very Borg-like at all," Axum said, "I agree. I imagine if that were the case we'd still be waiting on the next incursion."

"The last incursion was worse than any of the others," Seven said. "We may need to train more people how to conjure working mechs with their minds." She shook her head.

"No matter how many times I say it, no matter how many times I see it working…"

"It's weird, yeah," Axum said. "Still no reports coming in from anyone remembering this place when they exit their regeneration cycle?"

"Afraid not. The away team should be on the cube by now," Seven said. "Something must've gone wrong."

"Or maybe they just haven't reached the central plexus yet, or the virus won't spread as quickly as we thought."

"If the latter is the case," Seven said, "that only means the Collective will have more time to adapt to and resist it."

"Give it a little more time, Annika," Axum said, putting a hand on Seven's shoulder. Seven reflexively flinched and took a step back. "Sorry. I didn't mean to… I was just trying to be supportive."

Seven nodded. "I'll take you at your word and apologize for my reaction. However, I do ask that you refrain from doing it again."

"Understood," Axum said sadly.

* * *

"The central plexus is through here," Tuvok said to Janeway and Gilmore when they reached him. Janeway gave the signal to wait a moment before moving. She heard footsteps, hoping it would turn out to be Vorik. She allowed herself a very un-Borg like sigh of relief when she saw that it was.

"I apologize for the delay, Captain," Vorik said.

"No need, Ensign," Janeway said. "Once we're inside, we release the virus, and make contact with _Voyager_. We'll also need to sabotage as many of the cube's systems as we can to give them a chance of getting us out of here."

"Already working on it," Gilmore said. "Vorik, could you take that other console over there?"

Vorik simply nodded and went to work.

"Alright, Tuvok," Janeway said. "Let's do this. There are shield generators there and there, but as drones we should be able to just walk right through." Janeway let out a small chuckle. "You know, over the years, we've had enemies board the ship who could just walk through our force fields. It'll be nice to be on the giving end of that for a change."

The two walked through the force field, Janeway feeling a slight tingling sensation as she did so. As she and Tuvok rounded a corner, they stopped suddenly. A lone drone was at the central plexus. Luckily, it hadn't seen them, its back was turned as it operated a console.

 _One drone guarding it, and not even watching the entrance?_ Janeway thought. _Suppose the Borg just assumed nobody would ever get this far_.

"I will attempt to deactivate him," Tuvok said quietly, moving as silently as the metal on his feet would allow on the metal floor. The drone either didn't hear, or didn't perceive Tuvok as a threat, until the Vulcan yanked out wires leading into the drone's skull. He shuddered violently, but made very little noise as he fell over, Tuvok catching him before he could hit the ground.

Janeway made a move to the console and immediately began manipulating the controls.

"Damn," she said after a minute's work. "I can't access the plexus without shutting down the power grid in this section. That's bound to draw some attention."

"I will check in on Ensign Vorik and Crewman Gilmore's progress," Tuvok said. "Perhaps they can find another solution."

"Do it," Janeway said, feeling tense. This was already taking longer than she'd hoped. Of course, even succeeding in releasing the virus and giving Unimatrix Zero the chance to hide from the collective permanently was no guarantee that the four of them would make it out alive.

 _Why do I take on these suicidal missions all the time?_ She thought. _I never thought of myself as someone with a death wish, but…_

* * *

Something wasn't right, the Borg Queen knew that much, and it was not simply the Unimatrix Zero problem. The fact was, she was aware that the focus on that issue had caused her to miss something. Such a distraction should not have been possible, not for the Collective.

Were embarassment something the collective could feel, it would be feeling it right now.

"Janeway and the others. I can't hear them," the Queen said. "We assimilated them but I can't hear them. How is this possible?"

She reached her mind into the cube that Captain Janeway had attacked, trying to see the four Starfleet officers that had been taken for the Collective. She looked in the alcoves where the drones they were supposed to be had been assigned. They were not there.

She struggled to keep the expression on her organic face neutral, even though it was not necessary. The drones around here wouldn't notice. And her concern over the situation was reaching them regardless. So many things had gone wrong. Too many. The existence of Unimatrix Zero, the second failure to assimilate Earth, several cubes and spheres lost over the past few years… and there was something else wasn't there? Vague memories of the Borg suffering a devastating defeat at the hands of…

The thought exited her consciousness almost as quickly as it came. She redirected her efforts to find Janeway. The tactical cube was the same size as a standard cube, but with less open space due to the additional armor and weaponry. There would be few places to hide, and she had access to thousands of eyes. Each eye or pair of eyes belonged to the drones who would find the Starfleet officers and stop whatever it was they were planning, and learn how they'd managed to remain free of the voice of the Collective.

While she did that, she increased the number of drones to enter Unimatrix Zero once more. She did not know precisely how she was losing so many in there, but eventually she would overwhelm them. The reality that she was fast approaching the point where the resources expended in finding and shutting down Unimatrix Zero would exceed the effects its existence would have on the Collective managed to elude her.

The virus of the Borg's enemy was working faster than even its creators had believed it would by this point in time. The Borg Collective was running out of time, and it didn't even know it.

* * *

Seven of Nine wondered if she should be worried. Though no one within Unimatrix Zero wanted to admit it, the reality was the Borg should've adapted to the techniques and weapons Axum and the others were using to fight back by now. Despite this, the Borg seemed to be using the same tactics as always, the only change being larger numbers of drones. It wasn't an entirely foolish tactic, as more drones to push back against meant that everyone had to work harder and be more vigilant, but if the Collective kept up this pace, the amount of drones lost finding and disabled this Unimatrix would end up not being worth the cost. While she had no desire to return to the Collective, she had to admit a certain amount of pity. This was not the kind of efficiency that she had been used to; had even briefly wanted to go back to when the _Voyager_ crew had separated her from the Collective.

She said as much to Axum who nodded.

"Yeah," she said in response. "This degradation you've been telling me about must be getting worse at a far faster rate than you thought. Perhaps some event triggered it, caused it to accelerate?"

"A possibility," Seven said. "Or whomever is responsible for it intended it to be this way and we have simply been the beneficiaries of fortunate timing."

"You're that certain that there is an outside force at work here?"

"Yes."

"I kind of hope you're wrong, Seven," Axum said, shaking her head. "I mean, who's to say that any entity or entities powerful enough to destroy the Borg from within will stop with the Borg?"

Seven had not considered that possibility, and she very much wished that that had remained the case. She was unable to suppress a shiver at this thought.

"Hmm," Korok said, the Klingon having been so quiet for the past hour that Seven had managed to forget he was there. "A force capable of destroying the Borg is itself not that terrifying. A force that can destroy the Borg, but is patient enough to let it play out over years, on the other hand, that is a thing could give Kahless himself nightmares."

Seven had no response to that. She looked around at the camp. People were visibly tired, but full of determination. Everyone was helping each other. She really hoped the plan that the Captain had set in motion would come to fruition. These people deserved their freedom, even if it would be a more limited kind than that she had now. Her mind drifted to thoughts of Samantha, Naomi, and Icheb. It had been nearly a full ship's day since she'd seen them, but she dare not leave now, not before there was a sign, any sign, that Janeway and the others had succeeded.

 _What is taking them so long?_ she thought.

* * *

"Bingo," Marla Gilmore said. Janeway and Tuvok went to her to ask her what she meant, but Vorik spoke up before they could say it.

"We have bypassed the access codes," Vorik said. "We can access the central plexus directly." A loud hissing noise, that of the way to the plexus opening, happened immediately after he said the words, as if to emphasize the point.

"Good work," Janeway said, heading towards the opening. "Let's deploy the virus and then see about getting the hell out of here."

Without warning, the unmistakable sound of alarm klaxons filled the corridor.

"It would appear the Collective has figured out we are not drones," Tuvok said.

"Everyone inside the plexus," Janeway shouted. "Seal the entry way behind us."

"Yes ma'am," Gilmore said.

All four people quickly made their way in, the heavy door making a painfully loud noise as it closed. Gilmore and Vorik immediately went to the nearest console. Janeway allowed herself a brief moment to be impressed with how well the two worked together before returning her focus to her mission.

"I may not get to go home," she muttered, "but at least I'll give the Borg a black-eye on the way out."

"Captain," she heard a voice say. It was definitely not one of her people.

 _The Borg Queen_ , she thought. _So that what she sounds like._ She looked at the faces of her crewmates and could tell that they heard the Queen's voice as well.

"You don't really think you can win do you? Whatever it is you think you can do, even if the cube you are on is destroyed, we will adapt. We are many. We are Borg. We cannot be-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Janeway said. "I've heard the spiel before. It would carry more weight if you hadn't failed to assimilate my homeworld twice. Oh, and of course when you needed _my_ help to beat back Species 8472."

"Conservation of resources," the Queen said. "Species 8472 would've fallen eventually, regardless. Accepting your assistance was merely the result of a cost-benefit analysis."

"Keep telling yourself that," Janeway said, rolling her eyes. "Oh, and let's not forget the whole 'you planted Seven on _Voyager_ ' line you tried to pull a few years ago. The mighty Borg collective, reduced to using the 'I meant to do that' excuse, like a cat falling off the back of a couch."

"Enough!" the Borg Queen's voice shouted, but Janeway kept going as she if she hadn't heard.

"I mean, did you actually think that would work? Did you expect Seven of Nine to believe that the confluence of events that led to her being part of the crew was all part of a grand plan? I'm not surprised she didn't go for it. Deception is clearly not something you're well practiced at."

"You cannot hide in the central plexus forever, Janeway," the Borg Queen said. "You will eventually need-"

"And another thing," Janeway said, noticing that Gilmore was trying very hard to stifle a laugh, "Back when Starfleet first encountered you all those years ago, your drones would disintegrate after being killed. I've noticed they don't do that anymore. Just leaving your technology lying around for anyone to find? Sloppy."

The Borg Queen was silent. It took Janeway a moment to realize that she hadn't been rendered speechless, she had simply given up and cut off contact.

"A number of drones are attempting to burn their way through the doors to the plexus," Vorik said, looking at another console.

"Sounds like you pissed her off, Captain," Gilmore said.

"That I did," Janeway said. "And the fact that it worked just goes to show how far the Borg have fallen."

* * *

Tom Paris checked the chronometer again. Two and a half hours. That's how overdue the away team was to report back in. He was nervous, afraid for his crewmates but he had to admit that he was glad B'Elanna had not gone with them.

"Vital signs are still good," the Doctor said. "Stress levels are a bit elevated but that's to be expected."

"I wish there was some way we could pull them out now," Tom said. "I don't like how long this is taking."

"I don't either," Chakotay said, "but we stick to the mission, no matter what."

Tom wished he had Chakotay's confidence. _Or at least his appearance of confidence,_ he thought. _Probably more worried about them than I am_.

* * *

"And, done," Gilmore said. "Virus deployed."

"It appears to already be moving rapidly through the Collective, Captain," Vorik said.

"Good work people," Janeway said. _Now comes the fun part_ , she thought sardonically, wondering just how they were going to get out of the central plexus and back to _Voyager_. Or even if it were possible.

"Unfortunately," Tuvok said, giving voice to Janeway's concerns, "we are unable to contact _Voyager_ given our current location, and leaving the central plexus would open us to attack by this cube's drones."

"Yes," Janeway said, "but we're at the heart of this cube. That gives us an advantage. Marla, can you access the cube's weapons systems from here? Or their shields?"

"I was just about to try," Gilmore said, "but they've already started blocking access to the cube's systems from in here. They can't hide it from us, every bit of data has to pass through here to get to the drones, but I can't do anything with it."

"Not entirely accurate," Vorik said, pointing to a green dot on a screen that to Janeway looked indistinguishable to all the other green dots. "In order to maintain control of the drones, the Queen cannot close off this channel. We cannot block it, nor can we redirect it, but we can add to it."

"But what can- Oh," Gilmore said. "Of course. We flood the stream with junk data. The drones will be distracted trying to separate the random bits from the Queen's commands." Marla manipulated a few controls on the console, then sighed. "The bad news is, we'd need a minimum of a hundred zetabytes worth of useless information to even have a chance for this to work. Where are we going to get that much garbage data?"

"Hang on," Janeway said, finally recognizing something in the jumble of code she was seeing. "That data stream right there, it seems to be going someplace other than all the others."

Marla and Vorik quickly got to work on the console. Vorik spoke first.

"That information is being directed towards a cluster of drones from this very cube that have been sent into Unimatrix Zero. Apparently one drone on this vessel has the mutation."

Janeway exhaled sharply.

"Okay, I have an idea," she said.

* * *

 _I often hear my crewmates joke about writing their memoirs_ , Seven of Nine thought as she looked at the blinking light coming from the eyepiece of the drone in front of her. _Mine would likely be dismissed as exaggeration. I'm seeing it and even I'm not sure I can believe it_. There was no doubt in her mind though. The drone that was attacking her was unaware that its lights were sending her a message in an antiquated human form of communication called Morse Code. Captain Janeway had talked about it during a conversation years ago about how she had managed to contact an away team she'd been seperated from on a mission during her time as a Lieutenant. _If you had told me then that I would find that knowledge useful, I would've been very skeptical_.

After dispatching the drone, she returned to the camp to tell Axum what she had learned, finding her talking to Korok at the camp's center. The two were discussing what several people had told them, about coming out of regeneration cycles on whatever ship they were on and still remembering Unimatrix Zero. This confirmed the first part of the message Seven had received.

"The virus has been deployed," Seven said to Axum and Korok, "but Captain Janeway and her team are still trapped on the cube. They weren't able to give me all the details given the limitations of the method they communicated with me by, but there is a drone on that ship that has the mutation. We need to find out who it is so we can use them to contact the Captain directly."

"I assume," Axum said, "that she has a plan?"

"I think it's safe to assume that, yes," Seven said.

Axum took a deep breath and looked around at the hundreds of people, gearing up for the inevitable next drone incursion. "This could take awhile," she said, sounding reluctant.

"As my wife sometimes says," Seven said, "nothing worth doing is easy."

"I hope I'm the drone on that cube," Korok said, grinning. "A Class-4 cube would be a worthy prize for our resistance."

"I doubt we'll be that lucky," Axum said.

"In the meantime, I need to report to my crew," Seven said. "I will be back shortly." Seven closed her eyes, and focused on waking up. She felt the shift from the virtual world back to reality, and stepped forward, only for her legs to feel stiff and not want to cooperate. "Ow," she said, realizing that she had been inside Unimatrix Zero far longer than was healthy for her. She heard the sounds of metal scraping on metal and looked up to see Samantha, the chair she had gotten out of having made the sound when it had shoved back.

"Annie," she said, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Seven said. "Just need to walk it off. Let's get to the bridge. I need to brief Commander Chakotay on the situation. Just, walk with me so I don't get a leg cramp and fall over."

"Of course," Sam said, putting an arm around Seven's shoulder, the two of them walking as quickly as Seven dared towards the exit. "How long were you waiting there for me?"

"I promise I only fell asleep once," Samantha said.

Seven chuckled. "I love you."

* * *

"Seven?" Chakotay said when he saw her and Ensign Wildman enter the bridge together, Seven favoring one leg while Samantha held her up. "Are you alright?"

Chakotay saw the Doctor make a move towards them, medical tricorder already in hand.

"I am already better than I was when I came out of Unimatrix Zero," Seven said. "I stayed in too long, and my legs paid the price for it I'm afraid. But that's not our priority."

"I'm sorry I forgot to check in on you," the Doctor said as he scanned Seven of Nine. "I was so focused on the away team-"

"Apologize later," Seven said, turning to Chakotay. "Several drones have reported that they retained their memories of Unimatrix Zero after their regeneration cycles ended. I also received a message from the Captain in a rather unorthodox fashion."

"Unorthodox?" The Doctor said.

"Why didn't she contact us?" Tom Paris said.

Chakotay thought the answer was obvious, but decided not to give Tom any grief over it. They were all under stress right now. "The central plexus?"

"Correct," Seven said. "I do not know the exact circumstances, but the away team is trapped in the central plexus of that cube. Axum and the others are working on a way to reach them, but for now at least they are secure."

"That's the downside to an impregnable position," Harry said. "The enemy can't get in, but you can't get out."

"At least they're alive," Chakotay said, "and got the virus deployed."

"So what do we do now?" Tom said.

"Not much we can do," Chakotay said. "The only reason we even have any hope of getting our people is that cube hasn't gone into transwarp yet."

"I'm starting to wonder if it even can," Harry said. "I've gone over its trajectory, using data from the astrometrics lab, and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. There's nothing that I can see the Borg finding of value in that direction for years at even high warp."

"I imagine we have no intention of tracking them for that long," Tom said, "even if we could."

"Let's hope it won't come to that," Chakotay said. "Seven, soon as you can stand comfortably again get back in. Once you have any new information, use your comm badge and stay by your alcove."

"Yes, sir," Seven said. With help from Samantha, and with the Doctor following them, Seven headed for the turbolift. Chakotay walked over to Harry's console.

"Since we probably can't get answers, I'll settle for theories," he said. "Why do you think the cube can't go to transwarp?"

"Like I said, it doesn't really seem to be going anywhere in particular." Harry copied the data he was looking at to one of the screens behind him. "Admittedly I'm not an expert, but based on what Seven's told us over the years, this doesn't resemble any kind of Borg patrol pattern either. It's like when I was a kid and sometimes my uncle would take me out for a drive in his hovercar. He'd tell me to pick a direction, and we'd keep going until we hit something interesting. Or until we reached a coastline, whichever came first."

"Something tells me the Borg don't take their top of the line defense ships out for a spin," Chakotay said.

"Maybe the Degradation has something to do with it," Harry said.

Chakotay actually laughed. It was the first time he'd done so since the mission had started.

"Yeah," he said. "That would explain a lot actually. Never thought I'd live to see the day when the Borg were downgraded from existential threat to a nuisance."

"I'd say they're still a bit more than a nuisance," Tom said. "But yeah, seeing a Borg ship these days just doesn't fill me with dread the way merely thinking about one did just, what, four years ago?"

* * *

Seven of Nine reentered Unimatrix Zero to an incongruous site. Much of the forest that had represented the place was either smashed or burned, yet around her the people she was seeing looked not just determined but downright optimistic. In the short time she'd been away, the tide must've turned severely.

She found Axum, Korok, Lauren, and some of the others standing around a bonfire, laughing.

"Annika!" Axum yelled when she saw her, waving her over to join them.

"Poor girl," Korok said, "you missed the fun part. The last incursion of drones was an utter disaster. They didn't get a single one of us, and on top of all that many vanished before we even got to fight them. The virus is clearly working, the Collective is no longer able to find us. We've won!"

"Any word on who we have on the Class-4?" Seven asked. As much as she would've liked to savour this victory against the Borg, she did still have her crewmates to worry about.

"That would be I," an alien Seven hadn't seen in the camp before said. "Quorzom is the name by which I go."

Seven was actually surprised to see a member of crystalline species she only knew as Species 12 in Unimatrix Zero, but she managed to avoid allowing the surprise to overwhelm her.

"Turns out our shiny friend here," Korok said, "has been with us all along. He-"

"It," Quorzum said, sounding offended.

"Sorry. It," Korok continued. "was the first one here. The first drone with the mutation. Turns out it has just been hiding this whole time. I'd call it a coward, but after what I saw it to do a dozen invading drones with just its hands I'd rather not make it mad. To die in battle with a talking rock is not how I wish to enter Stovokor."

"That is an expected reaction," Quorzum said. "Since a return to isolation is what I wish, I will simply tell you that I contacted your fellow bipeds on the Class-4 cube. How matters little though I told your fellows there," it added, pointing dismissively at Axum and Korok, who simply rolled their eyes. "If you insist on needless details they have them to share. I'm told it is indelicate to leave without saying a trite phrase, so farewell." Quorzum turned around on legs Seven couldn't see and strolled away faster than its size would imply it was capable of.

"That was… what just happened?"

"Let it go," Axum said. "I've met antisocial beings before but Species 12 has raised it to an art form."

"So," Seven said, wanting to get back on point with the mission, "what does the Captain have in mind?"

"How fast can _Voyager_ upload over a hundred zetabytes of non-valuable information to the cube?" Axum said.

"Speed isn't an issue for Starfleet computers," Seven said. "Getting that information onto the cube would be the difficult part. But what would the purpose be for such a thing?"

"To make it easier for your engineers on the ship to take control of key systems from inside the central plexus," Axum said. "It's really their only chance to get out of there alive. I know it would be easier and less dangerous to consider them acceptable losses, but the fight against the Borg already has enough martyrs in my opinion."

"No argument there," Seven said, nodding. "I'll speak to the senior staff aboard _Voyager_. Perhaps we can come with up with a plan to get our people off that cube. What else did Quorzom tell you? What else did Captain Janeway say?"

* * *

Chakotay sighed. The report Seven gave him and the rest of the remaining senior staff aboard did not seem promising. Gathering up the amount of data needed wouldn't be easy, as there was not that much data in _Voyager's_ computer core that the Borg would probably consider useless. At least not as far as he could tell. And even if there was, delivering it to the cube would be next to impossible. With shields and weapons still fully operational, they couldn't hope to last more than a few seconds against a Class-4 cube.

"Oh, that's easy," B'Elanna Torres said, much to Chakotay's surprise. "One of Starfleet's abandoned plans to destroy the Borg after Wolf 359 involved a plan similar to this. It was deemed impossible after testing and, well they were right. The basic idea was the same. Overwhelm the Collective' group mind with useless bits of junk data and all that."

"No way that could work with the whole Collective," Harry said. "Not when the Borg use whole planets like computer cores."

"Well, yeah," B'Elanna said. "But that's my point. We're not trying to destroy the Collective. We're trying to inconvenience a single cube. That'll be much easier."

"Depends on your definition of easy," Tom said. "I'm not saying you're wrong, but how would we get it on the cube in the first place? Our best piece of bait was used getting the away team there in the first place."

Seven of Nine appeared to be staring out the viewport of the briefing room at the streaks of light going past as the ship continued its steady course at warp, waiting for the need to either adjust course or run away, depending on what if anything the cube they were following did next.

"Seven?" Chakotay said, wondering why she seemed so distracted.

"Fluidic space," she said.

"Come again?" Harry said.

"I believe I can generate a signal from our deflector dish to fool the cube's sensors into think a portal into fluidic space has opened," Seven said. "Fear that Species 8472 may be attempting another invasion would have to get their attention."

'Is that even possible?" Tom said. Seven almost looked insulted.

"Lieutenant, during my first day aboard this vessel I was able to modify the deflector dish to open a genuine rift. Faking one would require considerably less effort."

"Okay," Tom said, "you got me there."

"Let's say we do this," Chakotay said. "How does that help our people on the cube? How do we get them the junk data?"

"We don't need to get it to them directly," B'Elanna said. "Just get it on the cube. And I have an idea there too. We don't have enough data stored on this ship to do the deed, I'm sure we were all thinking that."

"I wasn't," Tom said.

Harry raised his hand, and Chakotay nodded. "The thought had occurred to me. What did you have in mind, B'Elanna?"

"Load what junk data, or at least what the Borg would consider junk data, onto a device that, once linked up to a Borg data node, will start copying itself exponentially, like water spilling out of a glass if you pour too much into it. That replicated data will need to go somewhere, and the computers on that cube will have all the free space it could need and then some."

"Get on that," Chakotay said. "Seven, B'Elanna, this is your project. Time is of the essence so I'll trust you to do what needs to be done. Spare me the details, just let me know when we can implement the plan."

"Yes, sir," Seven said.

"On it," B'Elanna said, her and Seven not waiting to be dismissed before leaving the briefing room. Chakotay simply nodded towards everyone else. They took the cue, and left the room to return to their stations on the bridge.

Chakotay muttered a quiet prayer to his gods that this would work, and that Kathryn, Tuvok, and the others would make it home safe and sound.

* * *

Captain Janeway thought something she never imagined could be possible while sitting in the heart of a Borg cube, surrounded on all sides by drones trying to burn their way to either kill them or assimilate them fully this time.

 _I am so bored_.

"I wish I had your Vulcan patience," Janeway heard Marla Gilmore say to Vorik, suggesting that she was thinking the same thing the Captain was.

"Meditation would help," Vorik said. "However, pausing to do so would be inadvisable given our current situation."

"We could go in shifts," Tuvok said. "One at a time, so as to minimize the risk of being caught off guard."

"That's not a bad idea," Janeway said. "Though really a nice hot cup of tea would be enough for me right now."

"I'd settle for a good book," Gilmore said. "Or even a bad one that I could poke fun-"

A beeping noise from the console nearest Gilmore caught her attention. She and Vorik both lept to their feet from their sitting positions to see what was going on.

"Well I'll be damned," Gilmore said.

"Fascinating," Vorik said.

"What is it?" Janeway asked, no longer bored.

"Junk data is clogging up the metaphorical pipes," Gilmore said. "And it's replicating itself, making it harder for the Collective to purge it. I actually recognize some of this stuff. Earth music, 20th century mostly."

Janeway snorted. "Must be Tom Paris' music collection."

"How was the _Voyager_ crew able to transmit that data to the cube?" Tuvok asked.

Gilmore and Vorik manipulated the controls some more, stopped, looked at each other, and back at the monitor before looking at each other again.

"The information appears to be accurate," Vorik said.

"I know," Gilmore said, "but it doesn't make any sense."

"Marla?" Janeway said.

"According to this information," Vorik said, "the data was retrieved from a damaged Starfleet issue probe that was found near the site of a suspected incursion by Species 8472."

"Huh," was all Janeway could say to that. She tried to think of something to say, but after almost a minute finally gave up.

"Okay, this should make things a little easier," Gilmore said. "And there go the shields. Still can't communicate with _Voyager_ from in here, but hopefully they'll get the hint."

"We should take the weapons off-line first," Vorik said.

"Oh, right. Silly me," Gilmore said. "Should've done that first."

"It would appear that our timing is fortuitous," Tuvok said, pointing to a spot on a nearby bulkhead that was glowing slightly. "Given the amount of time it has taken their efforts to penetrate the central plexus thus far, it is highly likely that by the time they make an opening large enough for a drone to get through, we will already-"

"We're going to need to get out of here," Gilmore yelled. "Even with the shields down, _Voyager_ won't be able to get a lock on us in here."

"Can you direct the drones somewhere else?" Janeway said.

"I'm trying," Gilmore said, hitting the console as she spoke and with audible frustration in her voice. "but whatever they cooked up on _Voyager_ worked too well. I can't do anything to the drones, just to the ship itself."

"Perhaps," Vorik said, "if we cause overloads in key places, at least some of the drones will need to vacate the area in order to deal with them."

"It would have to be somewhere where there aren't enough drones to deal with it already, so the overload would need to be somewhere close- Oh."

"Are you-" Vorik said.

"Yes," Gilmore said.

"That would be incredibly risky given our proximity to-"

"It's our best option, Vorik."

"What is our best option?" Janeway said.

"Create an overload in the transwarp drive," Gilmore said. "The drones would make that top priority no matter what, and the Queen couldn't stop them, not with the signals all clogged up. We get away no matter what, and if the drones fail, we get an added bonus of a blown up cube."

"Sounds like a win-win to me, Marla," Janeway said. "Do it."

* * *

"Sir," Harry said, "the Borg's engines are going critical!"

"Transporter room one, can you get a lock on the away team?" Chakotay said, suddenly worried.

"I'm trying, sir," Todd Mulcahey said. "I can't get through the additional shielding around the central… wait, two lifesigns, no, wait, got 'em!"

After a few almost unbearable seconds of silence, he heard Captain Janeway's voice over the open comm.

"We're back, now get us the hell out of here."

"Initiating the 'get the hell out of here' maneuver," Tom said.

"Any sign of pursuit?" Chakotay said.

"None," Harry said. "The cube is at full stop. I imagine they're a little busy trying to keep from exploding."

"It's what I would be doing," B'Elanna said from the auxiliary engineering console on the bridge.

"Good work, people," Chakotay said, smiling.

* * *

Seven of Nine took a good long look around at Unimatrix Zero. Already things were wildly different. The people had started making full buildings rather than a camp. A decent size city was rapidly, or at least rapidly when compared to reality, taking shape. The clash of styles made it look less than aesthetically pleasing, but that was irrelevant.

She took in a deep breath, amazed at how real the air smelled here, even though the only actual air she was taking in was the recycled air on board _Voyager_. She wondered how different the place would look next time she was here, seeing as that was going to be a fair amount of time.

"I hear you're looking for me?" Axum said, smiling, now wearing a uniform of her own. Seven didn't recognize it, but assumed it it was that of Axum's own people. "You like it? The military back home wore these. I was never in it myself, but I've become something of a soldier lately, that's for sure. Korok's busy planning a takeover of the ship he's on. Might take awhile since he's the only drone on it with the mutation, but it's a sphere so his chances are only slightly impossible."

Seven chuckled at that.

"Tell him I wish him luck," she said.

Axum frowned. "You'll be able to tell him yourself the next time he… Oh. You're not coming back?" Axum looked as though she had been physically wounded.

"I'm not leaving forever," Seven said, sounding considerably more defensive than she'd intended. "I simply have other matters to attend to. Duties aboard _Voyager_. Plus, these past few days, I've been neglecting my family. They've all been very understanding and supportive, but their understanding has unfortunately done little to assuage my guilt."

"I can understand that," Axum said. "Guilt seems to be something most sentient races have in common. Do you have any idea on when you'll be back?"

"I do not know," Seven admitted.

Axum did not appear to like the answer, but she didn't say anything in response, merely nodding.

"I wish you well," Seven continued. "The fight to save this place is over, but your resistance movement against the Borg has only started. Focus your energy on that, and not on missing me."

Axum stepped forward. "Maybe, before you go I could get one last-"

"No," Seven said, certain what the next word was going to be, and had that word been 'hug' she might've complied. "I do not wish for things to be awkward between us. I love Samantha. What you and I had ended when I was severed from the Collective. It is not your fault, there is nothing you could've done. Our lives simply went in different directions."

"Not unlike your wife and her former husband," Axum said. "In a way I guess it is comforting to know that this was just happenstance, and had things gone just a little differently we'd still be together."

Seven didn't believe Axum meant that, but she did believe that Axum was lying to herself, not to anyone else.

"Your Captain," Axum said, clearly desperate to change the subject. "How are she and the others doing?"

"The majority of their implants were safe to remove," Seven said. "Others will require more effort down the lines, and Tuvok will need time to adjust to his new eye and Marla Gilmore to her new hand, but otherwise the away team fared better than they had hoped. Captain Janeway and Ensign Vorik have already returned to duty, albeit reduced duty."

"Good. Good," Axum said. "Well, perhaps the next time I see you the others and I will have many great tales of victory against the Borg to regale you with. Who knows, perhaps either you or I will have answers regarding the Degradation."

"That would be welcome news," Seven said. "Farewell, Axum."

"Goodbye, Annika," Axum said. At that, Seven closed her eyes, focused her thoughts, and opened them again to see Icheb, the other Borg children, and Naomi gathered around a makeshift table where they were all playing a game of kadis-kot.

 **Chapter Two**

Almost as soon as it became clear that the Class-4 cube, while not destroyed as they had hoped, was not pursuing them, Tom Paris got to work on building a second _Delta Flyer_. As is usually the case, the second Starfleet/Borg hybrid shuttle was finished considerably faster than the prototype. In Tom's opinion, this one was even better than the first, though some of the improvements were ones he had planned on making to the original before it had been sacrificed to get Captain Janeway and her team onto the cube.

"The asteroid field is densest over here," Tom said, pointing to a display.

"You want to take a test run through that mess?" Harry Kim said.

"You doubt my skills?" Tom said.

"Not really," Harry said. "I'm just not sure we should taxing her so much so soon. This is the _Flyer II's_ first time out."

"As good a time as any to see if she can handle tight spaces," Tom said.

"Okay, if you say so."

After a few circling runs around the larger rocks of the field, Tom levelled the _Flyer_ out, and was prepared to call it a day, when the proximity alert noise sounded.

"There's a vessel coming up fast off our starboard bow," Harry said.

"Shields," Tom said.

"Range, 50 kilometers." Harry said. "10. It's pulling along side."

Tom glanced out the viewport to see the vessel pulling up. It was slightly smaller than the _Flyer_ , sleek, with a clashing color scheme that Tom would never have thought of for the _Flyer_ , with good reason, but wasn't offensive to his eyes.

"Nice ship," he said with some sincerity.

"It's scanning us," Harry said.

Tom opened a hailing channel to the ship. "This is Lieutenant Tom Paris of the _Delta Flyer II_. Please identify yourself."

A feminine sounding voice replied, though Tom knew better than to make assumptions.

"Vectored exhaust ports," the other ship's pilot said, "accelerated driver coils… Your vessel must be fast." Whoever it was sounded impressed, and Tom couldn't stop himself from gloating a little.

"Well, I certainly like to think so," he said.

"Check your scanners," the other pilot said. "You'll see a comet on the other side of the asteroid field. I wonder which of our ships could get there first."

"Sounds like a challenge," Tom said, smiling.

"Are you going to accept?"

"Tom, no," Harry said

"Tom, yes," Tom said. "This is a test flight, right? What better way to test the new ship than to see how it stands up to a little competition."

"Oh Jesus tap dancing Christ," Harry muttered.

Tom chuckled. "Okay, that's a new one. Where did you pick that line up from?"

"So?" the other pilot said impatiently.

"You're on. Are we going to count to three or-"

The other ship took off at maximum impulse, cutting off Tom's question.

"Oh, so that's how you wanna play it huh?" Tom said, before pushing the throttle forward. It didn't take long for them to catch up to the other ship, but right away Tom noticed something about it that could give them an edge of over the new _Flyer_.

"She's a lot more maneuverable than we are," he said.

"Well," Harry said. "If we're going to go through with this, I might as well point out we can even the odds. The new impulse thrusters."

"Now that's the spirit Harry," Tom said. "Let's do this."

The ship lurched slightly from the sudden burst of speed that came once Harry activated the new thrusters. Within seconds they had closed the gap with the other vessel to just fifty meters.

"Bring the backup generators on-line," Tom said, "and reroute power to the thrusters."

The _Delta Flyer II_ surged forward, easily passing the other vessel. Tom felt the huge grin on his face and glanced back to see that Harry was smiling now too. He was about to suggest to Harry that he shouldn't worry so much about the new Flyer, when he saw out the port side viewport that the other vessel's starboard nacelle was on fire. As the ship was flying through a vacuum at the moment, that was naturally a point of concern.

"Uh oh," Tom said. Harry looked down at his console and hit a few buttons.

"The other ship's cabin is filling with nyocene gas," he said.

"Stand by for emergency transport," Tom said.

The sound of a transporter beam filled the cabin, and Harry, emergency medkit already in hand, was there when the pilot, an alien woman, materialized. She leaned against the nearest bulkhead, coughing while harry ran a medical tricorder over her.

"You okay?" Harry said.

"I'm fine," the pilot said between coughs. "I guess this rules out a rematch."

Tom and Harry shared a look, the latter looking surprised, but Tom wasn't. He was a pilot at heart, and he knew one of his own when he saw one.

"What happened?" he said.

"My power transformer overloaded," the pilot said.

"We could probably find you a spare back on _Voyager_ ," Harry said. "That's our primary ship."

"We were about to head back there anyway," Tom said. "This was just supposed to be a test flight."

As Tom expected the pilot looked more hurt hearing that than she had over nearly being poisoned with nyocene.

"You're telling me I lost a race to a prototype?" she said. "Ugh, I am never going to hear the end of it back home."

"We won't tell," Tom said as he manipulated the controls to turn the Flyer around. _I can't wait to tell B'Elanna how well the new impulse thrusters worked_ , he thought. "I'm Tom Paris, by the way. My co-pilot and good friend here is Harry Kim. What's your name?"

"Irina," the pilot said.

* * *

"I've been looking forward to my holodeck time all week," The Doctor said, trying to walk away from B'Elanna Torres, wishing he hadn't decided to leave his mobile emitter on the desk for this shift. "Why can't you borrow three hours from someone else?"

"Yours are the last piece to the puzzle," B'Elanna said. "Tom and I have finally managed to get a weekend off together. I've been trading favors with members of the crew so that we could get the holodeck to ourselves. Even Sam, Seven, and Naomi gave up theirs for the week."

"Ah, a romantic getaway," The Doctor said.

"Exactly," B'Elanna said.

"Well, unfortunately for you I've chosen this week to indulge myself in a new hobby. Something human doctors have been enjoying for centuries."

"Oh for the love of…"

"It's called golf," The Doctor said, picking up a ball and club he'd replicated for himself. "I've already booked a tee time."

"Well," B'Elanna said, sounding dejected. "If your tee time is more important than our happiness, our first chance to be alone in months…"

The Doctor knew a guilt trip when he saw one. Unfortunately, unlike viruses, energy weapons, or weather, B'Elanna's sad face was not something he was immune to. He put down the ball and club.

"Fine," he said, "you can have my three hours."

"Thank you," B'Elanna said.

* * *

The next window of communication with Starfleet was still over a week away, but Seven of Nine couldn't help but notice that Samantha was nervous. Since the window would be relatively short, and there were many crewmembers with loved ones back home, a lottery of sorts was held, and Samantha had drawn a low number, meaning she would be among the first to contact someone during said window.

"Sam," Seven said, "Are you worried about introducing me to your parents?"

"Worried? No, well, yes, to Mom. Dad should be okay. If he's there I mean, he re-enlisted when the Dominion War started and the last letter we got from home said he was still in command of the _John Laurens_. And, well, honey, there's something I should've told you awhile ago and, um…"

"Sweetie, you're babbling," Seven said. "You told me to let you know when you were babbling."

"Yes, well, you know me. My babbling capabilities are infinite," Sam said with a nervous chuckle.

"If this is in reference to the death of her brother at Wolf 359," Seven said, "you told me about that already. I don't doubt that the situation may be uncomfortable initially, but once Linette Wildman understands that I have been free of the Collective for three years now-"

"There's something I left out," Samantha said, looking embarrassed, and slightly chewing on her lower lip the way she did where there was something she knew she should say, but was unsure how.

"What do you mean?" Seven asked.

"Uncle Doug wasn't just my Mom's brother. He was her twin brother," Sam said.

"I don't understand why that… Oh," Seven said, taking several moments longer than she cared to admit to make the connection. She might not have made that connection at all, had she not spent the past three years sharing a vessel with a set of twins, the frequently rumor-plagued Delaney sisters. Jenny and Megan. The two often worked in astrometrics during Seven's regeneration cycles, but despite their infrequent meetings she had come to respect them as officers and as scientists. She was also very aware of the deep bond between the two, and that was why she was suddenly nervous herself about speaking to Samantha's mother.

"Oh dear," Seven said, unable to think of anything else to say.

"I know it's been years since Wolf 359, but Annie, she was still a mess when I left for _Voyager_ , I don't know if my having been MIA for three years with no idea if I was alive or dead made it worse or not, but it certainly didn't help."

"Did she say anything in the letters you got from the Alpha Quadrant?"

"No," Sam said. "I know she's alive, and at home, but she didn't actually send me any messages herself, that was all from Dad."

There was an uncomfortable silence that followed. Sam took Seven's hands in hers and gently squeezed. Seven squeezed back.

 _Whatever happens_ , she thought, _she's Sam's mother. Treat her with respect, no matter what she says to you. Remember that anything she might say is motivated by a type of loss I could never understand_.

* * *

The _Delta Flyer_ and Irina's ship made it to _Voyager's_ shuttlebay safely, and as soon as Irina had been cleared by both The Doctor and Tuvok to move about the ship except for certain restricted areas, she and Harry immediately got to work on repairing her ship from the inside while Tom worked on the outside. The officers in charge of the shuttle bay made it clear that faster would be better, and Harry didn't blame them. Between the regular shuttles, the _Flyer_ , and Neelix's old ship, the place was constantly more crowded than Federation safety standards allowed for. It had been that way for years, and this new vessel was only compounding the matter.

"Could you hand me the viridum injector?" Irina said to Harry.

"Sure thing," Harry said. "Let's see, where is.. Ah, here we go." He handed to device to Irina who took it and applied it to her console with a smooth, swift motion. Harry sat in the seat next to her's.

"Comfy chairs," he said.

"My co-pilot certainly thinks so," Irina said, not taking her eyes off her work.

"Your co-pilot?" Harry said.

"I was on my way to meet him when I ran into you," Irina replied.

Harry realized that Irina wasn't giving him much to do in terms of help, but he also needed to stay since some of the equipment she was using was Starfleet equipment that he would need to take back once repairs were complete. Lacking an actual task, he decided to settle on some small talk. She might not reply but it was better than nothing.

"So, tell me about where you're from," he said.

"It's a small trinary system, about half a parsec from here," Irina said.

"Three suns," Harry said. "Wow. We have systems like that where I'm from, but as far as I know none of them are populated. Did your people originate there, or is it a colony?"

"Are you always this inquisitive?" Irina said, smiling.

 _Oh, she thinks I'm flirting_ , Harry thought. _Better dial it back_. "I'm a Starfleet officer. We're all about questions. Knowing the unknown is what drives us."

"That almost sounds like a recruiting speech."

"Well, it's part of the speech yeah," Harry admitted. "But I wasn't asking you to join us or anything."

The sound of a ladder being ascended cut off any reply.

"Your new power transformer is installed and ready to go," Tom Paris said as he climbed into the cockpit area.

"Thanks," Irina said. Harry couldn't help but notice her smile had widened when she spoke to Tom.

"Your impulse drive is a real beauty," Tom said.

"I designed it myself," Irina said, leaning back in her seat with an almost human like display of pride.

"I couldn't help but noticing your warp system seems so rudimentary," Tom said.

"Warp's fine if you like going fast in a straight line," Irina said. "But to me that's just physics, not flying. Besides, for the kind of flying I'm here for warp is not a factor."

"Pun intended?" Harry said.

Irina rolled her eyes, and moved on without acknowledging Harry's comment.

"The race course is only two billion kilometers long," she said.

"Race course?" Tom said, sharing a look with Harry.

 _I'm intrigued as well_ , Harry thought.

"You don't know?" Irina said.

"We're not from around here," Harry said.

* * *

B'Elanna could tell when Tom was excited even without seeing his face. He walked in a certain way she could never really adequately put into words, but nonetheless she knew it when she saw it and when he walked into the briefing room after having requested a gathering of the senior staff, she saw it.

Once he started explaining what he wanted to do, she understood why.

"It's called the Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally," he said, pointing to a map that he had called up on the monitor. "Three segments, covering 2.3 billion kilometers."

Harry, standing next to Tom, spoke next. "With obstacles ranging from dwarf star clusters to K-class anomalies."

"Two-man crews, and most importantly, each ship is limited to sub-light speeds," Tom said, his excitement threatening to get the better of him "It is the ultimate test of ship design and piloting skills."

"Not to mention a serious drain on _Voyager's_ resources," Tuvok said, looking down at the PADD Tom had handed him before the start of the meeting. "You're suggesting we reassign 15 crewmen to modify the _Delta Flyer_?"

"The race has very specific guidelines," Tom replied. "All of the ships have to use enriched deuterium fuel, which the _Flyer's_ not equipped to do, but Irina, she's that pilot we rescued, she agreed to lend us a fuel converter."

Chakotay's face suggested he had the same concerns that Tuvok did, but the Captain gave no visible indication of what she would say. B'Elanna herself wasn't sure if she wanted her to give Tom the okay or not. The timing was too close for her comfort; Tom could complete the race and still make it in time for their weekend on the holodeck, but if just one thing went wrong with the _Flyer_ during the course…

"Captain," Tom said, "this race is more than just a sporting event. Until recently this region was a war zone. Four different species fought for nearly a century to control it."

"Now," Harry said, "for the first time they're competing peacefully. To commemorate the new treaty that ended the war."

"This race embodies everything the Federation values," Tom said, "a peaceful coexistence, a free exchange of ideas-"

"I think it's a great idea," Janeway said, much to B'Elanna's surprise, and based on Chakotay's face and Tuvok's raised eyebrow to theirs as well. The Doctor, who had been there the whole time but didn't seem to care, finally was paying attention, though he didn't say anything.

"You do?" Tom said, looking unsure if he should be glad the Captain accepted his pitch, or disappointed that he didn't actually get to finish it.

"You do?" Tuvok said.

"Absolutely," Janeway said, smiling in a way B'Elanna hadn't seen since before the Unimatrix Zero mission. "This competition is just the sort of break we need. It'll give us the chance to make some friends, which we could always use more of in this region, and give the crew a chance at some real R&R. Request granted." She gently tossed the PADD Tom had given her back to him.

"Thank you, Captain," he said.

"One thing, gentlemen," she said. "Now that we're in this race, we're in it to win. After all, Starfleet's honor is at stake." She winked at Tom and Harry before heading for the door.

"Don't worry," Tom said. "It's in good hands."

"No pressure, right?" Harry said jovially. Tuvok simply followed the Captain while Chakotay started reading his own PADD, presumably to brush up on whatever information Tom hadn't gotten to due to his premature victory.

"Obviously I will insist that you have a full stock of medical supplies on board," The Doctor said. "I won't even bother pointing out the potential dangers of this race course, since you doubtless already know and, to borrow a phrase, don't give a rat's extremities."

Tom and Harry headed out, and B'Elanna followed, the three making their way first to the turbolift, then to the shuttlebay.

"So, I didn't get the chance to meet Irina, or look at her ship," she said. "She's not going to give you too much trouble I hope."

Tom chuckled. "Yeah, I'm not too worried. I'm just glad she'll be on her own ship and not flying with me."

"What do you mean?" B'Elanna said.

"Let's just say our new friend is a bit of a flirt," Harry said.

"Oh, really," B'Elanna said.

"That's putting it mildly," Tom said. "I didn't pick up on it at first because I thought she was just talking about her ship. I must be getting soft in my old age."

"I don't have to worry about her trying to poison me and merge with you, do I?" B'Elanna said.

Tom sighed. "One time that happened."

"I can confirm that Irina is not some crazy A.I.," Harry said. "Well, not an A.I. anyway," he added with a smirk.

"I assume you let her down gently," B'Elanna said.

"I tried to. I mentioned you, by name, when I said I was with someone. That only made her flirt more though. I eventually lied and said we were already married to try and get her to back off."

"Didn't work I take it?" B'Elanna said.

"Not even a little," Tom said. "She's one of those types I guess."

"Not to be mean, Tom," B'Elanna said, "but didn't you hook up with a married woman or two before we got together?"

"I was kind of hoping you'd forgotten about that," Tom said.

"There's the silver lining for you, Tom," Harry said. "Irina probably won't try to frame you for murder."

"Really? You're going to bring _that_ up?" Tom said.

"Look," B'Elanna said, putting her arm around Tom's waist, "just tell her I used to be a terrorist and that I know how to handle sharp objects. That should get her to back off."

"One can only hope," Tom said.

Before the three of them made it to the shuttlebay, B'Elanna realized something about the phrasing Tom had used earlier in the conversation.

"Hang on a sec," she said, "what did you mean by 'already married?'"

* * *

"And that's why I'm not going to be Tom's co-pilot for the race anymore," Harry said, raising his drink at the table in the mess hall he was sharing with Seven, Samantha, Joe Carey, and Sue Brooks."

"Leave it to Tom Paris to get engaged by accident," Brooks said.

"Given the volatile nature of their relationship," Seven said, "I would've predicted homicide before matrimony."

Harry and Sue each stifled a laugh, while Samantha playfully punched Seven in the arm.

"Honey, that's not fair," she said.

"Am I wrong?" Seven said.

"Look," Harry said, "let's just be happy for my best friend, shall we? He's going to win this thing, then as soon as they get back, wedding."

"Will they be back in time for the window of communication with Starfleet?" Carey asked.

"No," Harry said, "the window lines up with the post-race ceremonies. But they both drew high numbers in the lottery anyway, so it kind of doesn't matter this time."

Seven looked like she was about to say something, but her eyes shifted at the sound of one of the doors to the mess hall opening, and the Delaney sisters both walked in, talking about something.

"Excuse me," Seven said. "I have a matter to discuss with the Delaneys. I will see you all at the _Delta Flyer_ launch."

"Okay sweetie," Samantha said.

"Something about astrometrics?" Harry said.

Samantha looked back and forth, seeming unsure how to respond. "Well, I don't know if I should say anything."

"This about your Uncle?" Harry said.

"That obvious?"

"Seven didn't know your Uncle and your Mom were twins before now?"

"It never came up," Samantha said. "And honestly it didn't seem all that relevant. If I'd known when we started dated that we'd be able to talk to home in just a few short years I would've told her then. I think Annie is really worried that my Mom's not going to like her."

"That's normal I suppose," Carey said. "I was nervous first time I met my in-laws."

"Yeah," Samantha said, narrowing her eyes. "Pretty sure your wife didn't used to belong to a people who killed one of your relatives."

Carey nodded. "Okay, fair point. Our situations really aren't that similar at all."

"Look," Harry said, "I'm sure it'll be fine. Your Mom will understand that Seven had no control over her actions when she was a drone, and regardless Seven wasn't even at Wolf 359."

"Knowing and accepting are two different things, Harry," Samantha said. "But I hope you're right." She glanced over at Seven, speaking to the Delaney sisters. "And hopefully those two can give her the insight she's looking for."

* * *

Janeway listened as the coordinator of the race, Antarian Ambassador, O'Zaal, relayed his concerns regarding the race that her people had just entered. When the Ambassador had first requested this meeting she'd been concerned that he would request that her people bow out, leaving the competition to races from the formerly war torn region, but it didn't take long for those concerns to be assuaged.

"One of the species in the race, the Aksani, want to host the post-race ceremony, and say they will break the peace if refused. But it had already been agreed upon that another species, the Chessu, would host it. This is quite the mess, Captain."

"It sounds like it," Commander Chakotay said.

"The peace is so fragile," O'Zaal said, "every decision I make, no matter how trivial, is looked upon as symbolic."

"Winning is easy," Janeway said, "governing's harder. It's a story that happens all too often. Even in my world's history. Maybe we can help you."

"I was hoping you could," O'Zaal said. "Your people are new to this region. With no ties to any of our races, you're in the ideal position to be an arbitrator."

"The easiest thing to do," Janeway said, "is to provide neutral ground for the pre- and post-race activities. Our mess hall is designed to be adjusted in a hurry, we can have it ready to accommodate the launch party in under an hour."

"I was hoping you would say something like that, Captain," O'Zaal said. "I cannot be accused of showing favoritism to the Federation seeing as before yesterday I never even knew you existed."

"I'll tell Neelix to prepare for guests," Chakotay said, smiling.

* * *

"I look ridiculous in this," B'Elanna said, looking down at the white, gray, and black uniforms she and Tom would be wearing on the _Delta Flyer_ for the race. "Any particular reason we couldn't wear our regular uniforms? Or even our civilian clothes?"

"You look great, B'Elanna," Tom said, looking around at the crowd of aliens and Starfleet personnel mingling in the mess hall for the pre-race ceremony. "Oh. There she is."

"Who? Oh, Irina. She seems friendly."

"Too friendly," Tom said. "Remember, far as she's concerned we're already married."

"You don't really think she'd be so brazen as to flirt with you right in front-" B'Elanna stopped talking when she saw the look Irina was giving Tom as she approached them. "Okay, I guess she will be."

"Like I said," Tom whispered, "she's not a bad pilot, but she's not so good at taking a hint."

"Tom," Irina said, extending her hand, which Tom took and shook politely. "Good to see you before the race. And this must be B'Elanna Torres. Pleasure to meet you." She offered the same hand to B'Elanna as well, smiling.

 _If she's faking being nice to me_ , B'Elanna thought, _she's a damn good actor. Hell, with a smile like that I'd consider dating her_.

"Nice to meet you," B'Elanna said. "Looking forward to see what you can do in person."

"That's right," Irina said, "I'd almost forgotten, you're Tom's co-pilot now. Any particular reason Harry Kim couldn't make it?"

B'Elanna looked at Tom, who was laughing nervously.

"Oh, nothing major," Tom said. "I just remembered that I hadn't taken the missus out in the new _Flyer_ yet, and this is as good an excuse as any."

 _That was weak, Tom_. "In a way, this ship is kind of like our baby," B'Elanna said, putting an arm around Tom's waist, and hoping she could save him from further embarrassing himself with bad excuses.

"Well," Irina said, "I'll try not to be _too_ hard on your baby then. I do still intend to win, after all."

"Yeah, well," Tom said, confidence entering his voice, "we'll see about that." He smiled, and B'Elanna could tell that he was not faking it. He really expected to win. That didn't worry her though. The _Delta Flyer II_ was a great little ship, and while she hadn't contributed as much to it as Tom or Seven of Nine or Harry had, she was still proud of it.

"Oh, speaking of things to look out for," Irina said, her gaze falling on one of the other pilots, a blue-suited one staring out the viewport with his arms crossed, making a point of not talking to anyone. "His name's Assan. He was a fighter pilot in the wars, one of the most ruthless. I doubt he'll outright cheat, but he's going to be as rough as he thinks he can get away with, I'm sure of it.

"Oh, hey, I see Joxom," Irina said, changing the subject so quickly B'Elanna almost didn't register it. Irina ran over to another alien, one the same species as her, and gave him a more than friendly hug. She and Tom shared a look.

"I wonder if he knows-"

"Tom, be fair. Her species could be polyamorous," B'Elanna said.

"Maybe," Tom said. "All the same, the more he's around the more comfortable I'll be."

"It's not like you to be this judgemental, Tom," B'Elanna said.

Tom chuckled. "Yeah, you're right. Let's focus on winning the race, then on getting married once we win."

"Damn straight," B'Elanna said. "Oh, before I forget, Seven has been helping with race preparation in astrometrics."

"She told me about that, actually," Tom said. "Said she's analyzing the course to find ways to cut time. Already sent a few ideas to the _Flyer's_ computer. Too many ideas really. Is she nervous about something? This doesn't seem quite like her."

B'Elanna took in a deep breath. "Well, from what I hear, she's going to be talking to the in-laws during the next communication window with the Alpha Quadrant."

"Ah," Tom said. "Wants to make a good impression on Sam's parents?"

"You didn't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Sam lost an uncle at Wolf 359. Her mom's brother. Twin brother, actually."

"Oh, shit," Tom said.

"Yeah," B'Elanna said.

* * *

Under most circumstances, the sight of more than a dozen fully armed starships lined up facing each other would be a sign that something terrible was about to happen, but to the pilots of the smaller vessels lined up for the race it was an impressive send-off. Tom looked at the ships, a line on the port, and a line on the starboard. _Voyager_ was at the far end of the port side line up, it's clean white hull standing out amongst the various shades of dark grey and light brown vessels making up the rest.

"On the one hand," Tom said, "it's a shame Harry is going to miss this. On the other, this is going to be one hell of a story for us to tell the grandkids."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Lieutenant," B'Elanna said as she did a final pre-flight check. Tom couldn't quite remember the last time he'd seen her this excited about something. Certainly it had been before her physical therapy after having a number of Borg implants removed. He still winced sometimes thinking about how that must've felt. She didn't like talking about the experience, and he respected that choice, but he couldn't help his curiosity.

"Ready to bring that impulse drive online?" Tom said.

"Been ready for a few minutes," B'Elanna said. "I didn't want to start them up too soon. We've still got a few stragglers coming in before the race starts, and I don't want to waste an ounce of fuel. And before you say anything, yes I know we have more than enough to cover the race, but I don't want to take any chances."

Tom smiled. "Whoever thought we'd live to see the day when B'Elanna Torres was the cautious one."

"Eight years ago I never imagined I'd be taking pride in a Starfleet designed engine," B'Elanna said. "Things change."

"Well, hopefully your hatred of losing hasn't," Tom said.

"Oh, we're going to win," B'Elanna said. "Don't doubt that for a second."

Once the pre-flight check was done, Tom waited for the signal. A few moments later, the sound of Ambassador O'Zaal, speaking from _Voyager's_ bridge on an open channel to all vessels involved in the race, filled the cabin.

"Welcome to the first running of the Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally. This moment marks a hopeful point in our shared history, a chance to put aside old animosities and come together in a spirit of peace and friendly competition. Good luck to all of you. Prepare for the starting signal."

A few seconds later, _Voyager_ fired a low-yield photon torpedo that detonated a few hundred meters in front of the starting point.

"And we're off," Tom said, pushing the throttle forward.

* * *

Seven of Nine found herself grateful for the distraction as she listened to Neelix excitedly announce updates on the _Delta Flyer's_ progress in the race over the ship's comm systems from astrometrics. She operated the consoles, leaving the theatrics to the much more suited crewmember. She doubted she could muster up quite that much enthusiasm if she tried. It was much easier to be so emotionally free when it was just her and Samantha.

 _Much better to think about this than about what to say to my mother-in-law_ , Seven thought, as Neelix shouted gleefully about the _Flyer_ taking a strong third place. That put them well ahead of the next nearest challenger, with relatively little distance separating it from the two in the lead; Irina and Assan.

The sound of the door to astrometrics opening caught Seven's attention. The Captain and Lieutenant Kim walked in, but didn't say anything, instead leaning against a pair of consoles and watching Neelix announcing the race. Seven wondered why they couldn't just listen over the comm like everyone else, but decided that asking wasn't worth the effort. The answer wasn't that important. She looked at the screen, watching the icons representing each vessel, focusing on the gold icon representing the new _Delta Flyer_.

"You certainly have a knack for announcing, Neelix," Captain Janeway said.

"It's all in the delivery, Captain," Neelix said. "Though I have to give your people much of the credit. Remember when Kes and I were monitoring all those Earth programs a few years ago when we found ourselves thrown back to your world in the 1990s?"

"Ah yes," Janeway said, smirking. "The day my fascination with time travel started it's sharp decline."

"I picked up a few things from some of your sports programs," Neelix said. "Oh, looks like the _Flyer_ is coming up on the Möbius Inversion."

* * *

"The Inversion's supposed to have level 6 subspace distortions and gravimetric shear," Tom said. "We'll have to be careful around that."

"It covers the last third of this leg of the course," B'Elanna said, "so being careful inside the wormhole will be easier said than done."

"You know," Tom said, looking at the Möbius Inversion as it grew larger in the viewport, "it occurs to me that statistically speaking we have run into way too many wormholes here in the Delta Quadrant. Kinda makes the Bajoran one seem less special."

"I haven't really thought of it that way," B'Elanna said. "Usually I just end up being disappointed that none of the ones we come across are a shortcut home."

Tom shrugged, and was about to mention that on the positive side one of those wormholes did at least knock two years off their trip a while back, but the _Flyer_ began vibrating slightly as it approached the event horizon of the Inversion.

"Hold on tight," Tom said, gripping the controls tighter than he probably should've.

"The radiation of the Inversion is going to block _Voyager's_ sensors," B'Elanna said. "They won't be able to track our progress until we reach the other side."

"That should only be about fifty meters away," Tom said.

"Forty meters away," B'Elanna said a few seconds later, "and the two lead ships right ahead of us."

"I can see them," Tom said. "A little too close for comfort seeing as I don't need sensors to do that."

"And close together too," B'Elanna said, "but I think we can get through them. I'm reversing our deflector polarity. It'll repel their shields. Why wait for an opening when you can make one?"

"Sounds too risky," Tom said.

"Too risky? Who are you and what have you done with my fiancé?" B'Elanna said as she moved to another console and began manipulating controls.

"What're you doing?" Tom said.

"Deploying auxiliary thrusters," B'Elanna said. "We'll need the extra maneuvering power to get through the gap."

Tom opened his mouth to protest, but decided it wasn't worth it and refocused himself on flying the ship. It shuddered violently but briefly as it sped in between the two lead ships, knocking them aside slightly but not enough to throw them completely off course. Tom was grateful for that. He would hate to win by having the competition exploding behind him.

"That was way too risky," Tom said, turning to look back at B'Elanna. "I hate to sound rude, but I'm the pilot, I'm the one who should be making those calls."

B'Elanna did look upset at first, like she was about to argue, but whatever counterpoint she was going to offer evaporated before she could say it.

"I saw a chance and I took it," B'Elanna said, quietly. "You're right though, you're the one flying this thing, I should've asked."

"Good," Tom said. He smiled and added, "Great move by the way. We have a comfortable lead now."

"Attention all racers," Ambassador O'Zaal's voice said over the _Flyer's_ comm. "There's been an accident. Stay in order and shut down your engines."

Tom did as instructed quickly, hoping that whatever happened wasn't serious. He glanced back at B'Elanna and could tell by looking at her that she was worried that it had been her fault, and that whoever was wounded had been on either Irina or Assan's ship when they blew past them in the Inversion.

* * *

With O'Zaal just a few steps behind her, Janeway entered sickbay where The Doctor ran a medical tricorder over a wounded Joxom, Irina's co-pilot.

"Report," Janeway said.

"His condition is stabilizing," The Doctor said. "I should be able to start dermal regeneration in a few hours."

"This was Assan's fault," Irina said, standing near the biobed where Joxom was being treated.

"Why do you say that?" O'Zaal said.

"He collided with me so many times my shield generator overloaded," Irina said. "Joxom's console exploded. He's lucky he's alive."

"Janeway to Tuvok, have the pilot Assan brought to the briefing room, ASAP. Ambassador, I imagine you'll want to be there as well."

"Want, and need, Captain," O'Zaal said. "We need to get as full a picture of what happened as possible."

Janeway nodded. "We'll want Tom and B'Elanna as well. They were ahead of both ships, their flight data might have picked up information we need for the investigation. Irina, come with me."

"Of course," Irina said, taking one last long look at her co-pilot before following.

* * *

"The only thing I'm guilty of," Assan said, sounding smug to Tom, "is coming in second. A situation which will be remedied in the next leg."

 _If he has any concern for Joxom at all_ , Tom thought, _he's hiding it well_.

"You're doing a poor job of defending yourself," O'Zaal said, visibly nervous.

"We may have had something to do with this too," B'Elanna said. "We grazed both of their shields in the Möbius Inversion."

Tom felt as much as saw all eyes in the room turning on him and B'Elanna; Assan, Irina, Tuvok, the Captain, O'Zaal all looked at them, surprised at B'Elanna's declaration of guilt. Tom doubted very much that she was to blame, but he had to admit that he was clearly too biased on the matter. He hoped as much as believed that this was not her fault.

"Intentionally?" Janeway said.

"It was a tight course," Tom said, "everyone was flying very aggressively."

"Your team is not responsible, Captain," Irina said. "My generators were already overloading when they made contact."

"Perhaps none of you is to blame," Tuvok said, looking down at the PADD in his hands. "My security team found a device interfaced with her ship's shield generator." Tuvok touched a button on his PADD and a picture of the device in question appeared on the main briefing room monitor.

"What is it?" Janeway said.

"According to Lieutenant Anderson's analysis," Tuvok said, "it is a phase inverter, designed to cause a system overload."

"It's hard to believe someone would go this far just to knock a competitor out of the race," Janeway said, though to Tom's ears she didn't sound confident of that.

"This may be more than a simple case of cheating, Captain," O'Zaal said, sounding worried. "I think someone's trying to end the peace."

"Maybe I'm missing something here," Janeway said, "but we're talking about a single act of sabotage. How does that threaten your treaty?"

"By itself, it wouldn't," O'Zaal admitted, standing up and starting to pace with his hands behind his back. "But we've received threats of a more serious nature."

"From whom?" Tuvok asked.

"Groups opposed to the alliance," O'Zaal said. "Arms dealers, isolationists, political extremists. Up until now I wasn't sure how seriously to take them."

"Clearly they post a security threat," Tuvok said.

"Yes, yes," O'Zaal said. "We've done everything we could to protect the racers, but that might not be enough. I don't want to risk any more lives. We should cancel the race or at least postpone it until we can guarantee everyone's safety."

Tom didn't like that idea one bit. Even setting aside that he and B'Elanna were in the lead, this race was of vital symbolic importance to the inhabitants of this region of space. Giving in to extremists, assuming that's who was behind the sabotage instead of just some cheater, could only hurt the peace in the long run.

"No," Irina said. "If we stop now we'll be letting these extremists win."

 _Exactly what I was thinking_ , Tom thought.

"She's right," Assan said, without a trace of the egotism in his voice he'd had in everything else Tom had heard him say.

O'Zaal didn't look optimistic, but he nodded. "Very well then. If that's the consensus we'll resume tomorrow as scheduled."

* * *

"There you are," Harry Kim said as he saw Tom, B'Elanna, and Irina walking side by side in the corridor, clearly on their way to the shuttle bay. "Congrats on taking the lead, Tom. I was sorry to hear about Joxom though. Glad to hear he's recovering."

"Thank you, Harry," Irina said.

"By the way, did you get my request?"

"What request?" Tom said.

"I was about to tell you," Harry said. "I asked if I could be Irina's new co-pilot while Joxom recovers."

"Oh, that's very nice, but you don't need to-"

"Well, hey you still want to win, don't you?" Harry said, smiling.

"This is payback for me replacing you with B'Elanna isn't it?" Tom said.

"Only a little bit," Harry admitted. "But also, Irina did us a solid with that converter, and I'd hate to see her have to drop out. I checked with the race officials, and they say it's all good, so long as Irina herself signs off on it of course."

"Um, sure," Irina said. "Though my ship's damaged, so it may end up being an empty gesture."

"You don't know our Harry," Tom said. "Once he's set his mind to something…"

"He'll not only fix your ship," B'Elanna said, "he'll polish the bulkheads."

"Well, okay then," Irina said, smiling. "Welcome aboard Lieutenant Kim."

"I'll try not to gloat too much when we win," Harry said to Tom.

Tom just shook his head.

"Humans," B'Elanna said, rolling her eyes.

"Says the half-human," Tom said, playfully poking B'Elanna in the arm. Harry laughed at them as he and Irina made their way to her ship while the others went to the _Delta Flyer_.

* * *

With the race back in full swing, Tom and B'Elanna held onto their lead, but Irina and Harry, as well as Assan, were doing an admirable job of catching up. At least they were until Harry suddenly noticed that Irina's ship was gradually losing speed.

"We're slipping," Harry said. "Assan just pulled ahead of us."

"Don't worry about it," Irina said. Something in her tone made Harry uneasy, but he got distracted by an alert noise from his console before he could think of reasons why that might be.

"I'm reading malfunctions in the EPS relays," he said. "But we double checked all of them last night."

"We must've missed something," Irina said. "At this rate, we're going to be out of the race in a couple of minutes."

Harry wasn't one hundred percent sure, but the way Irina said that suggested she wasn't all that concerned about losing, a complete 180 degree turn from where she'd been last night while they'd worked on her ship together. Now he was certain something was wrong.

"I think I can reroute power through the impulse manifold," Harry said.

"No," Irina said suddenly, reaching out to stop him.

"Why not?" Harry said, fully suspicious now.

"It could damage the reactor coils," Irina said.

"I was in engineering before I was an operations officer," Harry said. "I know for a fact that reactor coils have nothing to do with impulse manifolds."

"These systems are different than what you're used to," Irina said, looking out the viewport and continuing to operate the controls as normal.

"Why-" Harry's question was cut off by another alarm sound.

"I think it's the injector ports," Irina said, bolting out of the pilot's chair and heading for the back of the ship. Harry looked at his console.

"No, it's an overload in my console," he said, pushing himself back just in time to avoid the explosion. The same kind of explosion that had injured Joxom. Harry found himself wishing he had a phaser with him. "This wasn't an accident," he said, turning to look at Irina, who now held a weapon on him.

"I'm sorry Harry," she said. "I really am."

 _A hologram, a dead woman, a Borg, the wrong twin, now this,_ Harry thought. _If I believed in a God I'd think he was punishing for thinking about other women than Libby._

"So this is one of those days then," he said aloud. He wanted to be angrier than he was, but really he was just disappointed in himself for having fallen into a trap. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me why you sabotaged your own ship twice."

"I don't mind at all, actually," Irina said. "I don't need to kill you to accomplish what I came to do. If I did, you'd already be dead."

"Fair point," Harry said, hoping that Irina didn't catch his glance towards the pilot's console. He wasn't quite close enough to just reach for it, but if he was quick enough he could leap to it and turn the ship fast enough that the inertial dampeners wouldn't compensate and Irina would hopefully lose her balance. It was a huge gamble, so he needed to do the math in his head to ensure the best chance of success. The longer Irina talked...

"If you're hoping to call for help," she said, gently motioning her gun at the communications panel which happened to be next to what Harry was actually looking at, "don't bother. I disabled it before we launched. You won't be able to fix it in time."

"In time for what?" Harry said.

"For the _Delta Flyer_ to reach the finish line," Irina said. Then she sighed. "Okay, that was too cryptic. I said I'd tell you, so I will. When the _Delta Flyer_ passes the finish line, it will be passing very close to more than a dozen ships full of people, all congregating for this 'peace' Ambassador O'Zaal keeps going on about."

"You're one the extremists," Harry said.

"I prefer to think of myself as a purist," Irina said. "Some of us were happier when all the other species were separate. We don't want to be like you and your Federation."

"The way you were flirting with my best friend, in front of his fiancee no less, you certainly could've fooled me," Harry said, not caring that he'd revealed the truth about Tom's marital status. He was pretty sure now Irina didn't actually care.

"I needed someone to deliver the explosive," Irina said. "Who better than a show-off pilot who wants to win a big race?"

"The fuel converter you gave us," Harry said. "It's a bomb. How the hell did we manage to miss that?"

"Your friend Tuvok might've caught it, but you never actually had security look at the device I gave you. Sloppy work, Lieutenant junior grade Kim," Irina said, practically spitting every syllable of Harry's name and rank.

"I'll be sure to pass that information along to Commander Tuvok," Harry said.

"Once your Captain guarantees my safety, I'm sure you will," Irina said.

 _Now's as good a time as any_ , Harry thought. He opened his mouth as if to reply to what Irina had just said, but then lunged for the console. A blast from Irina's weapon grazed over him close enough that he could feel the heat of it, but she had clearly missed. He then lunged at her as she tried to right herself after the sharp turn, and despite their equal height, he had Starfleet hand-to-hand combat training to fall back on. Granted, he had only barely passed that exam, but it was enough and within seconds he'd wrestled the weapon away from Irina. He stepped back, the weapon levelled at her while she was still on the floor, propping herself up with her elbows.

"You'd better shoot me," Irina said. "Because if I get that gun back-"

"Give it a rest," Harry said, turning the pilot's chair with one hand so that he could see the console and keep her in his peripheral vision. "You may have disabled your comm system, but this wouldn't be the first time I've had to get creative in contacting another ship."

* * *

The _Delta Flyer_ shuddered suddenly, which gave Tom pause, as they were nowhere near an obstacle that could do that.

"We're being scanned by some kind of modulating pulse," B'Elanna said. "It's from Irina's ship."

"Maybe it has to do with why they slowed down all of a sudden," Tom said. "They must need help. Their comm system may be down if this is how Harry's trying to get in touch with us."

Tom wanted to win the race, and Assan was mere meters behind him, but he knew that if it came down to it he'd choose rescuing his best friend over crossing that finish line first without hesitating. He already was prepared to turn around when B'Elanna continued.

"There's something odd about the amplitude," she said. Soon a sound filled the cabin, and Tom recognized it immediately.

"Morse code," he said.

"What?"

"It's an old style of communication they used on Earth back before even radios were in regular usage. Harry's trying to send out an S.O.S."

"I do know what S.O.S. means," B'Elanna said. "They're in trouble."

"Preparing to bring us about," Tom said, looking at the small monitor next to his console. "Put the modulation on my screen." B'Elanna did so quickly and as Tom turned the controls he used his knowledge to parse out what Harry was sending. It wasn't an S.O.S., he could tell that much, the pattern didn't fit. "Fuel converter rigged?" he said in shock.

"Rigged? How?" B'Elanna said.

"I don't know, that's just Harry's message. Fuel converter rigged."

B'Elanna began rapidly tapping buttons on her console. "The converter is leaking veridium isotopes."

"Why didn't the computer warn us?" Tom said.

"The on-line sensors have been tampered with," B'Elanna said, "but we have a bigger problem. I don't think I can contain the leak. The veridium is already reacting with the warp plasma."

"That'll cause a warp core breach," Tom said. "We'd better eject it."

"Too late to eject the converter," B'Elanna said. "We'll have to eject the core."

"Once we do we'll have less than a minute to clear out of range," B'Elanna said.

"I don't think we'll make it," Tom said, feeling surprisingly calm given the circumstances. "Neither will anyone else within a million kilometers. There's a nebula near by. I'm taking us towards it."

"How will that help? Besides taking us out of range of all the ships at the finish line I mean," B'Elanna said. She had obviously figured out as much as he had that the dignitaries there were the target of this explosion.

"It's a J-class," Tom said. "Filled with ionized gas. Should contain the explosion."

"So much for our wedding plans," B'Elanna said.

"Well, let's just hope our heroic deaths earn us both a place in Sto'Vo'Kor," Tom said.

"I'm not giving up just yet," B'Elanna said. "I'm still trying to get the ejection subroutines on-line. Looks like Irina sabotaged that too. I'll make sure to tell her she did a good job of hiding what she did before I wring her neck."

"Warp core breach in twenty seconds," the computer's voice said.

"Just one more… got it!" B'Elanna said. "Warp core ejected!"

"Nine, eight…" the computer continued.

"It's in the nebula," Tom said, pulling the controls as hard as dared. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," he muttered to himself as the countdown reached zero. "I love you," he said as the shockwave caught up to the _Flyer_.

* * *

Janeway graciously accepted the consolation from Ambassador O'Zaal as Assan's ship flew past the finish line first. She was about to thank him for the opportunity when _Voyager_ shuddered slightly.

"What was that?" Neelix said, his presence in the mess hall being why Janeway hadn't known until now just how far behind the _Delta Flyer_ had fallen.

"Janeway to the bridge, report," she said after tapping her comm badge.

"That was the shockwave of an antimatter explosion," Tuvok said. "Approximately 1.2 million light years from here.

"I'm on my way," Janeway said, handing her glass of champagne to Neelix before heading for the door.

As soon as she reached the bridge, Tuvok informed her of the situation as best he knew it. That the _Delta Flyer_ had changed course suddenly, that Irina's ship with Harry Kim on board had inexplicably stopped before the end of the race, and that the _Flyer's_ position was currently unknown but that it was last spotted near the site of the explosion.

Janeway wasted no time in ordering that they go immediately to find them, fearing the worst.

"Captain," Seven of Nine said "we'll be passing by Irina's vessel on our path. Shall we bring her and Lieutenant Kim aboard?"

"Good thinking," Janeway said, "Do it."

A few moments later, Harry's voice came over the comm, calling for security to the shuttle bay. Janeway gave Tuvok a nod, and he left the bridge without a word.

"Well," Janeway said, worry about Harry and why he needed security fighting with concern for Tom and B'Elanna for control of her focus. "This day took an odd turn."

* * *

Seven of Nine found herself in the regretful position of wishing that Tom and B'Elanna had been more injured when they and the _Delta Flyer_ had been recovered. She believed that she could use concern for her shipmates as an excuse to avoid what was coming, but she just couldn't do that to Samantha. This moment was very important to her.

"So, I hear the post-race festivities are still on," Samantha said, leaning against the bulkhead. She, Seven, and Naomi waited outside astrometrics for Ensign Brooks, who was in line ahead of them, to finish.

"Correct," Seven said. "It would appear that Irina's plans failed in more ways than one. Her homeworld's government seems more willing than ever now to contribute to the peace."

"That's good," Sam said.

"Mom," Naomi said, "are you sure Icheb can't join us?"

Sam smiled as she stroked her daughter's hair. "Sweetie, your grandma's already going to have a lot to take in. Seeing you for the first time, me getting married again… I think introducing her to an adopted grandson at the same time might be a bit much."

 _Perhaps I should let the two of you speak to her alone_ , Seven thought of saying, but inwardly scolded herself for thinking it. She hated feeling this uncomfortable about something that should be a positive.

"Okay," Naomi said, grudging acceptance in her voice, though Seven had already heard her say the same thing in the same way only a few hours ago. Naomi was not shy about sharing her disappointment.

"You okay, Annie?" Sam said. "You look a little nervous."

"Because I am," Seven said. "Though I suppose that is a fairly common human response to such situations."

"You'll do fine," Sam said. "To be honest, and Naomi you are not to breathe a word of this to anyone, it's my Mom I'm worried about. Like I said before, she was never quite the same after Uncle Doug died. I'd be lying if I wasn't terrified about how she'll react when she sees you."

"Don't worry, Mom," Naomi said, trying to reassure Samantha in a manner Seven found endearing. "Grandma will see how nice Seven is. She won't be mad once she knows that Seven isn't a Borg drone anymore."

"We'll see," Sam said, "we'll see."

The sound of the door to astrometrics opening caught Seven's attention. A smiling Ensign Brooks stepped out, though she did appear to have been crying as well.

"You're up," she said.

"You okay, Sue?" Sam said.

"Oh absolutely," Brooks said. "I just saw my nephew for the first time. He was born just a few weeks after we ended up in the Delta Quadrant. I was so happy to see him I cried. I know it's silly-"

"Hey, hey," Sam said, "it's perfectly normal. Don't do this to yourself. And don't worry, you'll see him in person someday soon, I know it. With as many years as we've been shaving off the trip home lately, I bet you'll be there to see him off to the Academy."

"You know what?" Brooks said. "I think you're right. Have fun talking to your parents, Sam," Brooks said.

"Thanks," Sam said. After taking a deep breath, she added, "All right, let's do this."

Sam, Seven, and Naomi entered astrometrics. Megan Delaney was standing where Seven normally would at a console as far from the viewscreen as she could get. It was a good chance anyone on the other end of the communication could still see her though, but someone had to be there in order to handle the adjustments required to keep the communication link stable.

"I'm arranging the call as we speak," Megan said. "I'll have your parents home comm on the screen in under a minute."

"Thanks, Megan," Sam said.

Seven felt Sam squeeze her hand as the image on the astrometrics lab screen went from a black screen with the Federation logo, to brief static, to a woman's face.

"Hi, Mom," Samantha said, smiling.

"Samantha, it is so good to see you again sweetheart," Linette Wildman said, smiling, but looking tired, like she'd just woken up from oversleeping. "I was hoping I'd hear from you soon once we found out you were alive from your EMH."

"It's great to see you too, Mom," Sam said. "Where's Dad?"

"James wasn't able to make it back," Linette said. "He wants me to send his love though."

"Right, I'd heard he came out of retirement after the war started," Sam said.

"That's right. He decided to stay after the Dominion surrendered though, and I can see why. We lost a lot of experienced Captains during the war. How's Nancy?"

"Your sister's fine," Linette said. "Anti-social as usual."

 _So far so good_ , Seven thought.

"Mom, I've got a few people I'd like you to meet," Sam said, gently nudging Naomi to stand in front of her. Naomi smiled nervously and waved at the screen.

"Hi, grandma," she said.

"Well hello there, Naomi. You really have grown so fast haven't you? And I can see you have your father's horns. You are just so adorable."

Seven allowed herself a small smile.

"Thank you," Naomi said. Linette's smile rapidly faded when her gaze shifted to what would be her left.

"You must be the new spouse, I suppose," she said.

"Mom," Samantha said, "This is Annika."

"A pleasure to see you Mrs. Wildman," Seven said, trying not to sound as uncomfortable as she felt by the sudden shift in her mother-in-law's tone.

"Uh-huh," Linette said, not sounding convinced. "So, Sam, is there any reason the Borg has to be here? Can't I just talk to my daughter and granddaughter?"

Seven glanced over and saw the expressions of happiness on Sam and Naomi's faces fade almost simultaneously.

"Mom, Annie and I are married. She's part of this family. She has every right to be here. If this is about Greskrendtregk-"

"A little bit, yeah," Linette said. "Is three years all it takes for you to get over a man you have a child with?"

"It's more complicated than that, Mom," Sam said. "I know this is a complicated situation but-"

"It shouldn't be," Linette said. "You were already married. I can't believe the Federation would let this thing you have going with this Borg stand."

Seven saw Sam's face starting to turn red, though whether it was from embarrassment or anger at how her mother was behaving, she couldn't tell. She took a deep breath, and responded.

"Mom, would you want to be the ones to tell the Denobulans, or the Elerians, or the Sklorno that their relationships are invalid?" she said, referring to only three of the numerous polyamourous species that held membership in the Federation. "And besides, Greskrendtregk moved on too when he thought I was dead. Ktarians process emotional trauma faster than humans. He's sent letters, we're fine. You make it sound like I just left him for some random woman."

"No, not random. A Borg. The people who killed your Uncle and his entire crew at Wolf 359," Linette said.

 _And there it is_ , Seven thought. A part of her had hoped this wouldn't come up, but deep down she knew it was inevitable. Seven heard a soft whimper, the sound that Naomi made when she was trying very hard not to cry.

"Maybe I should leave," Seven whispered to Sam.

"What were you thinking, Sam, really?" Linette said before Sam could respond. "After what happened to Doug? After everything the Borg have done to the Federation all it takes for you to forget is one of them to come along and shove her tits in your face-"

" _Mom!_ " Sam yelled, sounding angrier than Seven could ever remember her sounding in the several years she'd known her. "You have no right to talk to her that way. She wasn't there, and even if she had been she was a drone. She had no control over what she did while she was a Borg. But she's free now, and she is my wife. She is a part of this family. If you don't like her, fine, but do not talk about her that way. Especially don't talk about her like she's not here."

"Okay," Linette said. "What do you have to say for yourself then, Seven of Nine?"

 _I have never been this uncomfortable in my entire life,_ Seven thought.

"Um, well," she said, "I'm sorry for what happened to your twin. I can't begin to imagine how-"

"No, you can't," Linette said. "You've only been human for, what, three years now?"

"Oh my god, Mom, please stop," Sam said, her head in one hand, the other holding Naomi close. Naomi clung tight to Sam's leg, looking as uncomfortable as Seven felt.

"I think I have the right to know what kind of woman she is, Samantha. She is my daughter-in-law now, like it or not."

"It has been approximately three years since I was freed from the Collective, yes," Seven said.

"Yet you still talk like one of them. How do I know one day you won't try to jam one of your assimilation devices into my little girl's neck?"

Seven never got the chance to respond, as Sam slammed her hand down on the console to cut off the channel. Seven winced at the sound of the impact. As loud as it was, Sam must've hurt her hand when she did so.

"Sam?" Seven said, reaching out to touch Samantha's arm. Sam was taking in deep breaths, her eyes closed.

"Mom," Naomi said softly, "why was grandma being so mean?"

"She's a- she's never been the same since her twin brother died, sweetie," Sam said. "She wasn't always like this, I swear," she added, looking at Seven when she did so.

Seven pulled Sam in close for a hug.

"I'm so sorry that didn't go as you'd hoped," she said.

Sam didn't say anything, she simply started crying.

 **Chapter Three**

The Doctor excitedly scanned the small piece of comet that had been beamed into a canister in the rear compartment of the _Delta Flyer_. While not his primary field of expertise, he was grateful for the opportunity to go on an away mission, especially since it had been a month since he'd gotten to leave _Voyager_ , back when he had joined the majority of the command staff to celebrate the end of the Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally.

The ship shuddered, throwing off his scans, and he rolled his eyes as he tapped his comm badge. "Lieutenant Kim, please try to hold us steady. This material is extremely fragile."

"I'm doing the best I can, Doc," Harry replied.

"Maybe I should've insisted on a more experienced pilot, like Mr. Paris."

"Might I point out, Doctor," Seven of Nine over the same comm channel, "that being passive-aggressive is not likely to ensure a smoother flight."

"Fine, fine. Seven, could you join me back here please?"

"On my way," Seven said.

"I don't know if I can take another three days of comet chasing with him," Harry muttered.

"I heard that, Harry," The Doctor said.

There was no response from Harry. Moments later the door opened and Seven stepped in. The Doctor held up an even smaller sample he'd taken from the main one, running a scanning device over it.

"Ah, Seven. I figured you might find this interesting," he said, placing the sample under a standard Starfleet issue microscope, and sending the image to one of the wall monitors.

"Pre-animate biomatter," Seven said. "Interesting."

"I know, right?" The Doctor said. "But look deeper."

Seven looked at the image for a more seconds. "An undeveloped nucleus contained in a cytoplasmic matrix."

"And buried deep inside the nucleus, primitive strands of DNA," The Doctor said, smiling. "The beginnings of life."

"Very interesting," Seven said.

"Oh yes. To think, someday this cytoplasmic matrix may fall into the primordial sea of a distant world, where it could ignite an evolutionary process. Eons from now, a life form not unlike yourself could emerge, look up at the stars, and-"

The Doctor's speech was cut off brutally by the ship shaking again. The Doctor had enough experience to know that this kind of shuddering was usually brought on by weapons fire.

"We're under attack," Harry's voice said. "Get to the cockpit and strap yourselves in. Seven, I'll need you to man tactical."

"On it," Seven replied, bolting for the door. The Doctor followed her, wondering who could possibly be attacking a small ship out following a comet. It was likely not anyone they had encountered before as Harry would almost certainly have said who it was.

Harry tried to fly the ship and hail the attacker at the same time, telling them who they are and that they were on a peaceful mission.

"You're transporting a suspected photonic insurgent through Lokirrim space," the reply from the other ship said, with a clipped, militaristic tone of voice. "Drop your shields and prepare to be boarded."

 _Photonic?_ The Doctor thought. _A hologram? Are they attacking us because of me? What did I do?_

"Photonic insurgent?" Harry said. "If you're referring to the hologram he's our doctor."

The reply to that comment was another attack, this one hitting the ship hard enough to nearly send everyone tumbling out of their chairs.

"We've lost thrusters," Seven said.

"The comm array's down too, I can't contact _Voyager_ ," Harry said.

"If they board us I'm dead," The Doctor said. "It's obvious these people have a real problem with holograms."

"Couldn't we just turn you off?" Harry said. "The mobile emitter will hold your program."

"Given the apparent nature of our assailants," Seven said, "it is likely they will simply wipe or physically destroy the emitter once they find it. We do have another option, though it is a rather desperate one."

"Store my program inside you, like when you got me off the _Equinox_?" The Doctor said. "That's too risky."

"It did work before," Seven said.

"Yes, but I was only in there for less than an hour. Who knows how long-"

The ship shuddered once again, differently this time.

"They have us in a tractor beam," Harry said. "Whatever you're going to do, do it fast. I'd rather not have to explain to the Captain how I lost our CMO."

"Deactivate your program," Seven said. "I will take the mobile emitter and do what needs to be done."

The Doctor would've sighed if he had a breath.

"Alright," he said, manipulating the buttons on his emitter for what he hoped wouldn't be the final time.

* * *

Four armed Lokirrim boarded the _Flyer_ just as Seven completed the process. She removed her assimilation tubules from the mobile emitter and dropped it under the tactical console, though she knew it would be found. Hopefully they would be able to take it back with them once they were set free.

"We don't want to hurt you," the shortest of the four, presumably a female, said. "We just want the insurgent."

"His program was destroyed," Seven said. "Your tractor beam caused a destabilization in his matrix. You killed him."

"Search the ship," the tallest of the boarders said. Soon, one of them, another female as far as Seven could tell, came back to the cabin with the canister carrying the chunk of comet with them.

"There is biogenic material in this container," she said. "It could be used to create viral weapons."

The tall one nodded. "Confiscate it," he said.

"Our Doctor was using those spores to synthesize new medicines, not weapons," Seven said, hoping she was putting on a good performance. She hadn't had much opportunity to engage in acting since that play she and Samantha had staged over two years ago. She didn't need much inspiration to be angry however. The unprovoked attack was more than enough for that, and though it had been a month, if she had to she could always call up from memory the mix of negative emotions she'd felt after her encounter with Sam's mother.

"There's no one else aboard," the shortest one said.

"Take them into detention," the tall one said, looking at Seven and Harry, "and secure their ship in the docking bay."

"You got what you wanted didn't you?" Harry said, "Just let us go."

"Transporting photonics and manufacturing biogenic weapons are serious charges," the tall one said.

"You have no evidence that we were making weapons and you know it," Harry said. "Your 'evidence' is a chunk of rock."

"A chunk of rock that was being scanned by a photonic," the tall one said. "And your uniforms are fairly similar to ones we've seen other photonic insurgents wearing. That's evidence enough for me. Get them out of my sight."

Two of the other Lokirrim, one grabbing Harry's arm, the other forcefully grabbing Seven's, took them to the airlock door, and once the _Flyer_ was secured inside the other ship's hold, they were taken to a cell and shoved inside after their comm badges were removed.

It was smaller than any of the cells in _Voyager's_ brig, with an uncomfortable metal bunk bed, not unlike the one Seven had had to share with Commander Tuvok when they had been captured last year to be forced into a Tsunkatse tournament.

Harry sighed. "Well, assuming they don't just summarily execute us, in a few days Captain Janeway will come looking for us. This ship might have been too much for the _Delta Flyer_ , but-"

"I imagine the captain will make at least a token effort at diplomacy before resorting to violence," Seven said.

"I'm not gonna lie, Seven," Harry said, "but I think I'd take great pleasure in seeing this ship get a few holes punched in it. Can you believe the nerve of those people? To look at our lab and somehow see a bioweapons plant in it?"

"Corrupt law enforcement is not a new phenomenon," Seven said. "In this quadrant, or the Alpha Quadrant."

"So, are you saying they're probably going to try and railroad us as payback for them not getting to take the Doctor?"

"It's a plausible outcome," Seven said.

"It bothers me how you can be so casual about this."

"Do mistake my current demeanor for a lack of anger, Harry. I just don't see any point in complaining about our situation. Our primary focus should be to determine if escape is possible."

"Good point," Harry said.

Seven and Harry spent the next several minutes going over the cell. After two close visual inspections they found no obvious weaknesses, but also saw a lack of any apparent listening devices. Seven also noted that the main room that all the detention cells were in lacked a guard. This seemed like an odd flaw in this ship's security, as _Voyager's_ brig usually had someone on duty there even when the cells were unoccupied, which was a majority of the time.

"So, how long do you think you can handle the Doc being, in, well…"

"Unknown. The only time we did this previously his program was stored within my Borg implants for approximately twenty-five minutes."

"We're definitely going to be here longer than that. If you start to have any problems at all, let me know, alright?"

"Understood," Seven said, hoping that Harry's concern would turn out to be unwarranted.

"And on a more selfish note," Harry said, "soon as one of our captors comes back I'm going to request they clean this cell. It smells like whoever or whatever they had in here last."

"I wasn't going to mention it, but yes, the scent in this room is rather repulsive. But how can you be certain it's the cell itself and not the ship?"

"Did you smell anything like this until they turned on that force field?"

Seven thought about it for a moment. "I did not. Hopefully we won't be stuck with this too long. It should go without saying though that I will insist on multiple showers when we get back to _Voyager_. I do not wish to risk transferring any of this smell to my wife."

* * *

Hours passed, and the only person Harry saw during that time was the stone silent Lokirrim guard who brought him and Seven food. He tasted it and nearly gagged.

"Yuck. My uniform would taste better than this," Harry said.

"I have ingested worse," Seven said. "This is not my first time incarcerated on an alien craft after all."

"Mine either," Harry said, "but still." He saw Seven rubbing the back of her neck and shifting. "You okay?"

"Mild discomfort," Seven said. "Likely from the long periods of sitting."

"Try getting up and moving around a little. I know there isn't much space but-"

Seven stood up and began pacing the cell before Harry could finish the sentence.

"Perhaps some idle conversation to pass the time is in order," Seven said.

"You've never been one for small talk before," Harry said. "What changed."

"To be honest, I do not know," Seven said. "I just feel… compelled, all of a sudden."

Harry shrugged.

"Okay. Um, how about Icheb? I heard he didn't take it too well when he found out that wormhole he found last week went the wrong way."

"He was disappointed," Seven said, "however I made it clear to him that were it not for the neutrino detection techniques he developed last year for the ship's science fair, we likely never would've found it in the first place. That in itself is an accomplishment. That the opposite end of the wormhole would've deposited us more than twenty-thousands light years behind us is unfortunate, but not his fault."

"You could have also added that according to our probe we would've come out right in the middle of a massive Hirogen hunting party," Harry said. "That might've helped."

"Perhaps," Seven said. She stopped pacing for a moment and looked upward slightly. "I wonder if-"

Her thought was interrupted by the sound of the door to the brig opening. Two Lokirrim walked in, the shorter female who had boarded the _Flyer_ before, and another male.

"You, female," the Lokirrim woman said, pointing at Seven. "Come with us."

"I'm the senior officer," Harry said, standing at attention. "If you're going to take someone take me." _I'm also not the one with kids to look after_ , he thought. _If this goes bad_ -

"My orders were specific," the Lokirrim woman said.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant, I can take care of myself," Seven said.

Harry raised an eyebrow at that. It was definitely Seven of Nine talking, but something about the tone of her voice… Whatever it was she seemed to have noticed herself because she looked briefly confused at her own words as the male Lokirrim guard led her out, after which the female one reactivated the force field.

Harry got as close to the field as he dared, having learned the hard way that these force fields packed more of a shock than the ones on _Voyager_. He watched all three of them leave, then sighed.

"Two and a half days," he muttered to himself. "We just need to survive for two and a half days, then Janeway will come and get us."

* * *

Seven was led by the male guard onto the _Delta Flyer_ , which looked much better from the outside than she would've expected given how much damage they'd taken earlier. The female guard waited outside while the male took her to the back room of the _Flyer_ , where the tall one, the one who'd ordered her and Harry arrested in the first place, waited.

"The prisoner, sir," the male guard said. The tall one nodded, and the guard left. Seven was surprised that she'd been left with her hands and legs free, considering that she was now alone in a relatively confined space with this ship's commanding officer. It was doubtful they mistook her for a non-threat given her size and gender. After all, the female Lokirrim who had brought her was by all appearances comparable to her in size. If Seven hadn't had enhanced strength due to her remaining implants it was likely that in a fight the two of them would be evenly matched. Was this confidence or arrogance on the part of the commander?

"Pulse-phased weapons," the tall one said, "duranium-enforced hull. Hmm. Much more sophisticated than the typical smuggler's vessel."

"I would imagine," Seven said, "given that we are not smugglers. We're explorers. As I have explained to you twice already before you threw myself and Lieutenant Kim in a cell. If you would allow us to contact our primary ship, our Captain could-"

"If you're innocent," the tall one said. "then you won't mind telling me more about this vessel."

Seven let out an exasperated sigh, and wondered where that came from. She had reacted that way to things before, but to the best of her recollection she was usually far more annoyed at those moments than she was now. She also thought very briefly that she felt another presence in the room, but she pushed it aside so she could respond to the Lokirrim commander's request.

"Her builder would be more qualified to tell you what she can do," Seven said, which was mostly true. Though she had helped design this one, more so than its predecessor even, Tom Paris seemed to have an almost empathic connection with this ship, despite not being a Borg, or even a Binar.

"Perhaps, but since you are here and not them, tell me, what does this device do?" The tall one pointed at the replicator.

"That's a standard food replicator," Seven said, regretting saying the word food as suddenly she felt hungry.

"Can it be used to create bioweapons?"

 _Would Neelix's leola root soup count?_ Seven thought, which was odd as while she would never go out of her way to eat it, she had never felt it tasted particularly offensive, unlike the majority of the _Voyager_ crew.

"Do you think everything can be used to make bioweapons? Perhaps if I showed you one of my daughter's plush animals you would think she was hiding a biological weapons lab in there as well?" Seven sighed. "Here, let me show you." She walked over to the replicator, and thought of something both she and Samantha enjoyed eating. "Computer, two bowls of pad thai, medium heat."

"Pad thai?" the tall one said.

"Thin rice noodles with tofu, bean sprouts, onions, and ground peanuts," Seven said. "My wife introduced me to this dish on our honeymoon."

The tall one's head tilted slightly.

"Honeymoon?" he said.

 _Well, at least his species doesn't appear to be entirely bigoted_ , Seven thought. Then in the back of her mind she thought she heard The Doctor's voice say "Just against holograms."

"A common practice amongst my species where the recently married take a vacation together shortly after the wedding."

"Seems like a waste of time," the tall one said. "Though to be fair, on my world weddings themselves are a three day affair."

Seven took one of the bowls of pad thai and handed it to the tall one. "Here," she said.

The tall one took the bowl, and took a small taste of the dish while Seven picked up her own, hoping she'd had time to finish it before sent back to the brig, and feeling slightly guilty that she would have eaten better than Harry.

"Not bad," the tall one said. "A bit hotter than I'm used to. I do not recognize the names of any of the ingredients you listed, though we do have something similar to these rice noodles."

"Listen, Commander," Seven paused. "I do not believe you ever gave us your name."

"Ranek."

"Commander Ranek, if you would permit me, I would like to bring another bowl of this to my crewmate."

"It's not standard procedure, but I suppose I can allow it. I'm all too aware that prison rations are not the most edible items in the sector. Largely because they are produced at the same factories that make military rations."

"Thank you," Seven said. Ranek looked at the bowl, at the replicator, then at her.

"Out of pure curiosity of course, what other types of foods does your species have that that device can recreate? My people will often, borrow, ideas from other cultures we encounter when we believe we can benefit from them."

 _I don't care for that pause on the word 'borrow'_ , Seven thought. However she couldn't help but notice that despite her initial impression, Ranek seemed to be at least somewhat reasonable. It would be foolish to not at least attempt to take advantage of that situation. Her and Harry and the Doctor's program sitting inside her being able to leave was the best case scenario and therefore the least likely, and even if they could contact _Voyager_ they were still over two days away, but if she could accomplish making those two days less difficult for her and Lieutenant Kim…

"Perhaps an item my daughter enjoys. They are called 'waffles.'"

* * *

When Seven of Nine finally came back, having been gone long enough for Harry to have been worried, his worry was replaced with confusion. She was laughing, and having trouble walking upright. And for that matter, so was the Lokirrim commander.

"What in the entirety of f-"

"Thank you for letting me have my regen- regeneration device. Portable I mean. I can already feel my cybernetic components depolarizing."

"Not a problem," the Commander said, "Wouldn't look good on my record to have one of my prisoners die on me. Especially one that introduced my people to such great food and drink!"

"Oh my god," Harry groaned.

"Back into the cell you go my friend. Rules are rules. But if you get acquitted by the Lokirrim courts I must introduce you to my wife. She would love you. Just, love. You'd have to be more worried about her making you stay than you would our judges." The Commander punctuated his last sentence with a laugh Harry found grating.

"Perhaps we could do a double date," Seven said with a smile that seemed unlike her. Harry had seen Seven smile before of course, but this seemed, different somehow, as if she was impersonating someone else's smile. "Me and Sam, you and your wife. It'll be great."

"Perhaps," the Commander said. "Good night, Seven."

"Good night, Ranek," Seven said, before sloppily slumping onto the bottom bed.

Once Ranek was gone, Harry took a deep breath, and started to rant.

"What the hell is going on?"

"It's fine, it's fine," Seven said. "Seven gave him a taste of the replicator, I came up with the wine list, and physics, I mean physiology did the rest."

"Why are you suddenly referring to yourself in the third per- Oh, no. Doctor? Is that you?"

"Yep," Seven, or rather the Doctor, now somehow in control of Seven's body said.

"How did this… No, forget it, I have a vague idea. Is Seven still in there?"

"I think so," The Doctor said. "I mean, I know she could hear me before I took control. Which wasn't on purpose by the way, so, maybe don't judge me. You know, I had no idea intoxication felt like this. I can see why you organics do this to yourselves."

"What happened after you- I mean, after Seven was taken away?"

"Oh, Captain Ranek, who is actually quite the gentleman once you get to know him, wanted to know about the _Flyer_. Can you believe he thought the food replicator could be used to make bioweapons? So paranoid. Anyway, Seven demonstrated how it worked, and it would seem Captain Ranek has an affinity for Earth food. Once I had the chance, I took-" The Doctor stopped to belch, much to Harry's annoyance.

"Seven is going to kill you when she has her body back, you realize this," he said.

"I took advantage of the situation, and convinced Ranek that my mobile emitter was necessary for Seven's survival. I also agreed to fill in for their medic who they lost in a recent skirmish." The Doctor snorted. "Skirmish. That's a funny word."

Harry put his head in his hands and groaned. "Okay, let's get your program back into the emitter before they change their mind. I doubt Captain Ranek's crew will follow an order given under the influence." He helped The Doctor stand up and leaned him against the wall, holding the emitter in one hand. "Hey, careful where you point those tubules."

"Sorry," The Doctor said.

A few seconds after The Doctor, using Seven's arm, attached a pair of assimilation tubules to the mobile emitter, a smiling EMH appeared in the cell. Seven slumped forward, groaning slightly, and gripping her stomach.

"Easy, easy," Harry said, helping her stay on her feet. "How do you feel?"

"I'm… impaired," Seven said in an almost whimper.

"You've had quite a shock to your system,' The Doctor said. "Let me explain what's happened."

"I know exactly what's happened," Seven said, anger entering her voice. "You've been abusing my body."

Harry had never seen a hologram go through quite as many facial expressions as The Doctor did at that moment.

"I'm a Doctor," he said, loudly. "I would never abuse-"

"Shh," Harry said, glancing through the force field to see if anyone had entered the Lokirrim brig.

"I was trying to get information," The Doctor said, clearly trying to defend his actions. "Sometimes a.. a glass of wine can loosen the tongue."

"One glass," Seven said with contempt. "That doesn't excuse the other eight."

"Was it that many?" The Doctor said. Seven, now sitting on the bed again, turned and glared at The Doctor.

"Look, I'm afraid the role of 'spy' wasn't written into my programming. I was forced to improvise," The Doctor said.

"You improvised while you were inside of me," Seven said.

"Phrasing," Harry said, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

"Keep in mind there's a very good reason I was inside of you," The Doctor said.

"Phrasing," Harry said, a little louder this time.

"One thing is for certain," Seven said, "I do not wish to have you inside of me ever again."

"Hey! Phrasing!" Harry yelled.

"Mister Kim's outburst aside," The Doctor said, "we do not have a choice. If I'm discovered they'll decompile my program. And who knows what they'll do to you two if they find out you've been hiding me this whole time. These people clearly have serious issues when it comes to holograms."

"Look," Harry said, "I know he was being an ass today, but the Doctor's right."

Seven groaned as she lie down. "Thirty Ktarian chocolate puffs, Lieutenant Kim. Thirty. Icheb couldn't handle that many and he's a teenager."

Harry was sympathetic to Seven. This was the most upset he could remember having heard her outside of situations where Samantha was in danger, but he also knew that they couldn't lose The Doctor.

"I get that this can't be easy for you," he said, "but you have to put up with it for a little while longer. Until _Voyager_ can come for us, or until we can escape."

"How would you propose we do that?" Seven said.

Harry looked at The Doctor. "Maybe you can tap into their comm system while you're working as their medic and get a message to _Voyager_."

"Deciphering alien computers isn't exactly my forte," The Doctor said.

"But it is one of mine," Seven said. "If you can get close enough while they're accessing their systems, I'll be able to observe their command protocols."

The sound of voices outside the brig drifted into the cell.

"What's the situation?" one voice said.

"The Captain wants the female prisoner in the medical bay," another voice replied.

"We'd better proceed," Seven said, sounding resigned as Harry helped her to her feet.

"You're saving my life," The Doctor said, turning so his arm with the mobile emitter was facing Seven. "I want you to know how grateful I am."

"As Mister Paris would say, bite me," Seven said. She injected her assimilation tubules into the emitter, and the Doctor vanished. Seven put the emitter on the sleeve of her own uniform and took a deep breath.

"Doc?" Harry said.

"Not yet," Seven said. "Give it a moment."

"You're going to make him pay for this later, aren't you?"

"Indeed. Though non-violent revenge is not something I am well versed in. I will need to enlist… No, the Doctor can hear me in there. Best not reveal my plans."

Harry couldn't help but smile. "He does have it coming."

* * *

The Doctor was in control of Seven's body once again by the time Ranek had taken him to the medical bay to work with a Lieutenant Jaryn on a medical case. When they entered the room, The Doctor recognized Laryn as the shorter female who had boarded the Delta Flyer. He smiled at her, and nodded politely while Ranek made his introductions.

 _You know, I never realized until now how attractive she is_ , he thought.

 _Don't. Even. Think about it_ , Seven's voice said in the back of his mind.

"We should get to work immediately," Jaryn said, motioning towards two covered bodies on medical tables. "The Photonic's viral weapon attacks the cerebral cortex. Within days the victim suffers complete synaptic failure.

"I haven't even had the chance to familiarize myself with your equipment yet," The Doctor said. "I am happy to help, I hate bioweapons as much as anyone, but your sickbay is quite different from mi- the one on my ship."

The Doctor looked around. The equipment wasn't as advanced as that on _Voyager,_ but he could work with it easily enough. The tough part for him would be remembering that he needed to act like this wasn't second nature to him in order to maintain the cover story. Seven would only know anything he was talking about due to her perfect memory.

"Hmm. I don't know if we can stop this virus just yet, but I may be able to come up with a way to slow its progress. We need to synthesize a neural inhibitor." Jaryn immediately went to the other side of the lab without saying a word.

"Certainly not a very talkative species," The Doctor said. "Forgive me for asking, but aren't you the ship's tactical officer? That was how Ranek introduced you."

"Tactical officer, medic, engineer," Jaryn said working on her people's equivalent to a Starfleet PADD. "We've lost nearly a third of our crew to the Photonics."

"Well, you certainly know your way around a medical bay," The Doctor said. "You may have missed your true calling."

"Actually," Jaryn said, "Emmik always thought I'd be a teacher. He used to call me the 'little professor.'"

"Who's Emmik?"

"The Photonic who helped raise my brother and me. He knew more about treating scrapes and bruises than any organic doctor I ever met."

The Doctor smiled at that comment, unable to resist taking a note of pride in the work of a fellow medical hologram.

"Sounds like someone I would enjoy meeting. My ship's Doctor too, if he hadn't, well…"

"Maybe," Jaryn said, frowning. "Before he joined the insurgency."

"Why did he do that?" The Doctor said with genuine shock.

"I ask myself that question every day," Jaryn said. "Fact is, I don't know. Just like I don't know where the original photonics who started this damn war came from. My people's holograms were never violent until they arrived. Some of them look like you and the other prisoner, that's why we had to take you in. Most of them appear to have been created by species that no one in this part of space has seen before.

The Doctor could actually feel Seven's mind working in the metaphorical back of his own. She seemed to have some idea of what this all meant, but The Doctor tried his best to ignore that and focus on the task at hand.

"Is it possible his program was hacked, or infected with some kind of computer virus?" The Doctor said.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't hope that was the case," Jaryn said. "It would be nice to have him back. He was a part of our family." She shook her head and handed an old fashioned injection needle to The Doctor. "We should get back to the patient."

Jaryn walked over to another occupied bed, a man who was unconscious but clearly breathing. The Doctor figured this was someone who had been affected by the virus recently enough that hopefully he could be saved. The Doctor applied the injection carefully.

"It could take up to a day to determine if the inhibitor is working," he said.

"Thank you," Jaryn said.

"Don't thank me, thank my ship's doctor," The Doctor said. "He taught me everything I know about medicine. Remind me to tell about the time he used a matter transporter to help my wife Samantha when she had delivery complications."

 _Being in my body does not exempt you from doctor/patient confidentiality_ , Seven's voice said angrily.

"Well, I'm glad to know there are still some good holograms out there in the universe." Jaryn said, then winced. "Right, sorry. I understand you and the other prisoner were close to him."

"Quite," The Doctor said. "But we can mourn him later. He would prefer I focus on helping your patients. He took his oath as a physician very seriously. I think you would have gotten on famously. He certainly would've taken a liking to you."

Jaryn glanced at The Doctor, looking up from her medical scanner, seeming uncertain.

 _Oh dear_ , The Doctor thought, _she thinks I'm flirting with her_.

 _Because you are_ , Seven's voice said. _Stop it immediately_.

The Doctor cleared his throat and went back to work on the patient. He was confident he could save this man, and possibly many others too if his treatment proposals worked. The Lokirrim had attacked them, but he was a doctor first above all, and he inwardly chided himself for letting Jaryn's long, dark hair and admirable professionalism in the face of such ghastly weapons as the Photonics were using distract him.

While waiting for signs the treatments were working, he managed to get Jaryn to talk about herself and her family. After a while, Jaryn stepped away from the conversation to check on the patient they had tested the neural inhibitor on.

"His progress is remarkable," Jaryn said, not even attempting to hide her amazement. "I want you to know I'm going to tell my superiors everything you've done for us."

"First Ranek, and now you," The Doctor said, pride in his voice. "I may become the first prisoner of war in history to be decorated by her captors,"

"It's getting late, ship time, anyway," Jaryn said. "I'd offer up one of our unoccupied quarters, but some of the other crew might find that offensive. Plus, I'm pretty sure we've already bent protocol as far as we can get away with having you here in the first place."

"That's quite alright," The Doctor said. "But first, I believe we should report the progress we've made to Captain Ranek."

"I've already sent a progress update to the bridge," Jaryn said.

 _Where we would be most likely to see command codes being entered_ , The Doctor thought, certain that Seven echoed that sentiment. I need to try and get us up there somehow.

 _Much as I'm pained to admit it_ , Seven's voice said, _we currently lack a plausible excuse to get up there at this moment_.

"Good to know," The Doctor said, smiling. "And don't worry about the quarters, the bed in the cell isn't that bad. I've had worse accommodations, believe it or not."

* * *

As soon as the Lokirrim guards had stepped outside, Seven of Nine happily transferred the Doctor back to his mobile emitter. He stayed up against the near wall, where he wouldn't be seen right away if anyone came in.

"So," Harry Kim said, "did you get the access codes?"

"Unfortunately, no," Seven said, very obviously avoiding eye contact with The Doctor.

"But we did develop a treatment for some of their wounded," The Doctor said. "Can you believe the holograms the Lokirrim are fighting are using biological and chemical weapons? All things considered I don't see myself holding a grudge over this. Were I in their shoes I might want to decompile all holograms too."

"That's honestly a little shocking coming from you, Doc," Harry said. "The last time Captain Janeway pondered using a virus as a weapon you were practically ready to mutiny."

"I'm not saying I would, Lieutenant, just that I understand where the desire comes from. It's called empathy."

"I think we may have a larger problem on our hands than our current incarceration," Seven said, softly.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"The holograms that started this insurgency, I have a hypothesis as to where they came from. I would need more information to be sure, but based on the descriptions we've been given of what some of the Photonics look like, our proximity to the wormhole that Icheb discovered, and the fact that the other end of that wormhole is an area dominated by the Hirogen-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Harry said, shaking his head. "That can't be right. Are you suggesting that the Photonic insurgents are holograms made with the holodeck technology the Captain gave the Hirogen to get them to leave us alone? How would that even be possible? The Hirogen don't have portable emitters, it's only been about three years, and they were so spread out, I just-"

"I admit it's unlikely," Seven said, "but based on the evidence available it is still the most likely explanation."

"The Captain won't like that," The Doctor said, "she was never too thrilled about giving the Hirogen holodeck technology to start with. Something like this is probably the kind of worst case scenario that would've kept her up at night."

"We shouldn't say anything to her unless we're sure," Harry said. "And definitely don't say anything to the Lokirrim."

"No argument here," The Doctor said. "This society actually had a rather healthy relationship with their artificial intelligences until this all started. To some of them having their holograms go rogue was like losing a member of the family."

"To Jaryn, anyway," Seven said.

"Jaryn?"

"The long haired Lokirrim who boarded the _Delta Flyer_ with Captain Ranek," Seven said, glowering at The Doctor. "He has taken a liking to her, using my body to flirt with her in the medical bay when we should be working on our escape."

"It's not like tha-"

"You became sexually aroused in my body," Seven said.

The Doctor looked uncomfortable for a moment before replying. "When did it become a crime to enjoy a sensation or two?"

"When you were doing it using my body, without my consent," Seven said. "Your lack of taste buds or nerve endings is not an excuse. I do not even wish to imagine what you would've done with Jaryn had I not been able to communicate with you."

"Neither do I," Harry said, feeling uncomfortable again.

"It doesn't matter anyway," The Doctor said. "She knows that you're married."

"Which means she thinks I'm open to cheating on my spouse," Seven said.

"Can we not have this conversation right now? Or ever?" Harry said. "Focus, on, getting us, out of here. Now, did you learn anything about their comm system?"

"It can only be accessed from the bridge," Seven said.

"Damn," Harry said, "And we still don't have those command codes. Do you think there's any way you can get up to the bridge?"

"I am in the process of formulating a plan," Seven said.

"That's a 'no,'" The Doctor said.

"It's a 'not yet,'" Seven said. "Unfortunately, this means I will likely have to carry the Doctor's program for a while longer. Something I do not look forward to."

"We can agree on that at least," The Doctor said.

Harry sighed. "Look, I know this is a difficult situation, and the temptation to lash out may seem overwhelming, but if we can just keep calm, and if you two could remember that you're friends, maybe we can get out of here alive. Okay?"

Seven and The Doctor were silent, both looking at the floor. Harry remembered seeing classmates in grade school who would do the same thing when they were caught doing something bad.

"This whole thing has not brought out the best in me, has it?" The Doctor said.

"It has not," Seven said, "though I concede that having new sensations such as being able to eat, drink, breathe, etcetera, is a primary factor in that."

"Good, good," Harry said. "Last thing we need is you two fighting right now."

"I have an idea," Seven said.

"What is it?" The Doctor asked.

Seven looked at The Doctor, Harry glad that it wasn't an angry glare this time. "Regarding what Mister Kim said about not informing the Lokirrim about the potential origin of the Photonic insurgents. Perhaps some selectively shared information could benefit us."

* * *

The next morning, when The Doctor, in Seven's body, was brought to the medical bay, he wasted no time in implementing Seven's plan.

 _Be sure not to leave out my vital contribution to the plan when you tell Samantha about this_ , he thought.

 _I intend to give her as little information about what we've been through as possible,_ Seven replied. _She doesn't need certain mental images in her head_.

"Jaryn, hello," The Doctor said.

"Good morning, Seven," Jaryn said.

"I was thinking last night, about what you said regarding the strange holograms that started this insurgency. Were you aware that there is a wormhole that is only a week or so away at warp 7 from your territory?"

"A wormhole?" Jaryn said. "No, I didn't. Why do you bring that up?"

"I just think it's possible that maybe that's where the insurgents came from," The Doctor said. He then proceeded to give a highly truncated version of the story of _Voyager_ ; how it came to be in the Delta Quadrant, and the journey home."

"But you couldn't use the wormhole because it went in the wrong direction," Jaryn said. "That must've been disappointing."

"Indeed," The Doctor said, "especially for Icheb."

"Icheb?"

"My adopted son. Have I not mentioned him?"

"You mentioned a wife and daughter. Samantha and Naomi, if I remember right."

The Doctor, for the first time in his life, knew what blushing felt like. "Oh, my, that's a rather significant thing for me to forget to mention."

Jaryn sighed. "Well, in all fairness you are still technically a prisoner here. I imagine that would have an effect on one's psyche. I promise not to tell your boy if you don't."

The Doctor nodded, grateful that unlike Seven of Nine who had only done one play, he had managed to practice the craft of acting on numerous occasions aboard _Voyager_ , even before he'd obtained the mobile emitter. All he had to do was think of himself as Seven of Nine, and the rest came easily to him. He did however realize he had a certain amount of envy now; envy that Seven of Nine could experience feelings he could only approximate. Those of a proud parent.

 _Focus_ , Seven's voice said to him.

"This is certainly an interesting theory," Jaryn said, "but without any evidence I doubt the Captain could convince the homeworld to send any ships to look into it."

"He could look into it himself," The Doctor said. "I'm sure he could concoct some reason for this ship to change course."

Jaryn's eyes narrowed. "That would rather conveniently take us in the direction your ship, would it not?"

"They would be more than happy to take us off your hands if we come across them," The Doctor said. "I admit that certainly occurred to me."

"Right," Jaryn said, sounding skeptical, just as The Doctor had predicted she would.

"Very well," The Doctor said. "At the very least allow me to give the coordinates of the wormhole to your Captain. I can mark it's location on your star charts."

"You'd have to be on the bridge for that," Jaryn said.

"You don't have any sort of astrometrics or stellar cartography room on board?"

"Why would we? This is a warship?"

 _Thank goodness_ , The Doctor thought. If they had had such a room that would've actually been a hiccup for the escape plan.

"Well then, take me to your leader," The Doctor said, smiling. "I've always wanted to say that."

If Seven's personality had eyes, The Doctor just knew somehow that she would be rolling them right now.

Jaryn called for a guard and asked him to escort The Doctor to the bridge. Once there, he recited the coordinates and information on the wormhole to Ranek exactly as Seven had told him to.

"You really think this could be where the insurgents came from?" Ranek said.

"As certain as I can be without going there myself," The Doctor said, before telling an even more truncated version of the story he'd told Jaryn.

Ranek stared at the star chart on the main viewscreen.

"Thank you for this information, Seven of Nine," Ranek said. "I will take it to my superiors. If I can't convince them, well, I'm sure I'll think of something. This definitely seems like an avenue worth investigating."

"I hope it does you some good," The Doctor said, looking around the bridge. Luckily, using Seven's Borg enhanced eyesight, it didn't take him long to spot what he needed. He memorized the codes, suppressed an urge to laugh at how poorly secured they were, then once Ranek told the guard to escort him from the bridge, began the next phase of the plan.

"Captain," The Doctor said, "I was wondering if perhaps, in return for what I've done to help your wounded crewmen, you would allow me to obtain some food from the _Delta Flyer's_ replicator for my cellmate, Lieutenant Kim."

"I see no harm in that," Ranek said. "We're getting low on prisoner rations anyway." He looked at the guard. "Go with him, just to be safe."

"An understandable precaution," The Doctor said, nodding politely, never breaking his smile.

* * *

"So that's how a Vulcan nerve pinch works," The Doctor said once Seven put him back in his emitter. He checked to make sure he hadn't done any permanent damage to the Lokirrim guard now lying on the _Delta Flyer's_ floor.

"You didn't know that already?" Seven said as she began bringing the _Flyer's_ subspace transceiver on-line, working to mask the signal that she would be sending.

"Knowing and doing are two different things, Seven," The Doctor said.

"Fair enough," Seven said, hoping that the Doctor could come up with a plausible explanation for the guard when he awoke. Barring that, she hoped that she and the others wouldn't be summarily executed if they got caught. Either way, she had the signal running and let out a deep sigh of relief when she saw Captain Janeway's face, grainy and staticy though it was, on the monitor.

"Seven," Janeway said, "it's good to see you."

"Captain," Seven said, "we're being held prisoner aboard a Lokirrim patrol ship. I'm sending you their precise location, along with the command codes to disable their shields."

"Are The Doctor and Harry alright?"

"I'm fine," The Doctor said from behind Seven. "And Mister Kim is his usual chipper self."

"How did they manage to hide you from the Lokirrim?" Janeway asked.

"I'll explain later," Seven said. "We need to end the communication before we get discovered."

"Understood," Janeway said. "We've got a Lokirrim ship of our own to deal with right now. Once they're out of the way, we'll be coming for you."

* * *

"Set a course," Janeway said once the feed from the _Delta Flyer_ cut off.

"Our escort isn't going to take kindly to a detour," Tom said, referring to the Lokirrim ship that was escorting _Voyager_ through their space under the promise that their holodecks be kept off line.

"What's the status of their weapons?" Janeway said to Tuvok.

"They've repaired their forward phasers," Tuvok replied after a quick scan.

"And they're in front of us," Janeway said. "Good. Target their power matrix. We may only get one shot so make it count."

"Captain," Chakotay said, "this is going to look like an unprovoked attack on our part."

"Send them an apology note once we're at warp," Janeway said. "We're getting our people back."

"Ready," Tuvok said.

"Fire," Janeway said. The image on the view screen showed a phaser blast striking the Lokirrim ship, causing a small explosion.

"Direct hit," Tuvok said.

"Get us out of here, maximum warp," Janeway said to Tom.

"Aye, Captain," he said, the image on the viewscreen shifting as the ship made a sharp turn. A mere second later, the screen changed again as _Voyager_ went to warp.

"No sign of pursuit," Tuvok said.

"Good," Janeway said, sitting back down in the Captain's chair.

Chakotay leaned over to her, speaking quietly so that the rest of the bridge crew wouldn't hear, except Tuvok who would be able to hear them anyway.

"Are you sure there wasn't another way, Kathryn?" he said.

"I don't know," Janeway admitted. "But I didn't think I could afford the time to come up with another plan. I've lost enough people out here, and if that other ship gets to a planet or a starbase our odds of getting Seven, Harry, and The Doctor back become unacceptable."

"Understood," Chakotay said.

* * *

A Lokirrim guard held onto Seven's right arm, as Ranek stared her down on the bridge. Seven had just managed to get the Doctor's program back into her implants before the guard came to. The guard didn't take the offered lie at face value, that he had sampled an alcoholic beverage from a stock that Tom Paris kept aboard that he thought Seven didn't know about, and passed out. When Jaryn scanned him, she found signs of the nerve pinch.

"We trusted you," she said.

"I'm still a prisoner on your ship," Seven said, the Doctor not having had enough time to override her personality yet. "You were keeping me from my family, and my crew. You had to expect I'd try something like this at some point."

"So what was your plan?" Ranek said. "To aid the insurgents?"

"I don't even know who these insurgents are apart from what you've told us about them" Seven said. "I just want to go home. It's as simple as that."

"We were going to ask for leniency," Jaryn said.

An alarm sound cut off Seven's reply.

"Alien ship approaching, coming in on our aft vector," one of the Lokirrim bridge crew said.

"Hopefully, that's _Voyager_ ," Seven said. "Despite what you may think of us, Ranek, Captain Janeway is more than fair. We can end this without any combat."

"I'd like to believe you," Ranek said.

"The alien vessel is hailing us," the bridge officer said

"On screen," Ranek said.

Seven smiled, her own smile this time, when Captain Janeway appeared on screen.

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship _Voyager_ ," she said. "We don't want a fight. Return my people and we'll be on our way."

"Your people were caught transporting a photonic insurgent and biogenic material," Ranek said.

"We don't want to disable your ship," Janeway said, "but we will if we have to. Scan us. You can see you're no match for us. If we wanted to cripple your vessel it would be crippled already."

Ranek glanced over at Jaryn who was looking at a monitor. She actually looked worried when she looked back at Ranek and simply nodded.

"Well?" Janeway said.

"Jaryn, prepare to send a fleet wide alert. Our ship alone might not be able to stand up to yours Captain, but-"

"I don't have time for this. Chakotay, send the signal," Janeway said.

Moments later, more bridge alarms started going off.

"We're losing our ventral shield grid," Jaryn said.

"Compensate," Ranek said, leaning forward to operate his own console.

Seven was about to open her mouth to tell Ranek he should simply return her and Harry to _Voyager,_ but-

* * *

The Doctor saw Ranek lean forward to operate his own console while Jaryn frantically worked on her own to try and get their shields back up.

"You can't win this," he said.

"They've tapped into the shield matrix," Jaryn said. "They're using your command authorization."

Ranek stood and glowered at The Doctor. "So, that was what you were doing then. Jaryn. reroute power. Tie our shields directly into the warp matrix."

"Sir?" Jaryn said, sounding panicked.

"That sounds suicidally stupid," The Doctor said.

"Quiet!" Ranek shouted at him. He turned back to the screen. "If you fire at us, Captain, you'll risk triggering a core breach. You'll be killing the very people you came to rescue."

"End transmission," Janeway said.

"She wouldn't-" Ranek said, his sentence cut off by the ship shuddering.

"Tractor beam?" The Doctor said, smirking smugly at Ranek.

"She's right," Jaryn said, "the enemy vessel has us in a tractor beam.

"You know, you really should just give up," The Doctor said. "You have a treatment for the Photonic's viral weapon, and a possible location for their origin. Losing three prisoners seems like a small price to pay for that."

"How do we even know that information can be trusted?" Ranek said.

"You've seen firsthand what the treatments can do for your wounded," The Doctor said. "As for the wormhole, even I only think it's a possible origin. I freely admit I could be wrong. If I was setting up some kind of trap do you think I'd make it so easy for you to avoid?"

Ranek glowered at him, and turned back to face the viewscreen. "Open fire. Target their tractor emitter."

A second later the ship shook again.

"We're free," Jaryn said.

"Get us out of here, best possible speed."

The Doctor rolled Seven's eyes. "Our ship is faster than yours, Captain."

"Doctor," he suddenly heard Janeway's voice say in his, or rather Seven's ear. "If you can hear me we need your help. See if you can disable their shields."

 _I have a plan_ , Seven's voice said. _Put your program back in the mobile emitter. I'll take care of the rest._

Trusting Seven, he did just that, slipping the mobile emitter off Seven's sleeve with the left hand, the guard failing to notice, and switched it to her right hand, the left extending assimilation tubules into it. He lost all sense of awareness for only a moment before suddenly he was facing in a different direction and feeling very different. He heard Seven grab and punch the guard, while he turned to look at Jaryn who pointed a scanner at him with one hand, and a weapon with the other.

"It's a photonic," she said.

"Cover me," Seven of Nine said, handing him the weapon she took off the guard she'd knocked down. He held the weapon nervously, pointing it at Jaryn and Ranek as he backed into the bulkhead.

"Stay back," he said. "I'm not afraid to use this."

Seven went to a nearby console and began manipulating the controls. He glanced at her, and failed to notice the guard had gotten back up until he made a move for the weapon. The Doctor jumped back a step.

"Stay," he said to the guard, only to be caught off guard by a rushing Ranek who shoved him and took the weapon from his hand, firing it into the monitor next to Seven's head, causing her to flinch sideways, and turn around.

"Step away," Ranek said.

Seven calmly did as she was told.

"She destabilized the shield grid," Jaryn said. "It's failing."

"Watch them," Ranek said, handing the weapon to Jaryn who had it pointed at The Doctor and Seven. The Doctor couldn't notice that she held it far more confidently than he had.

 _Perhaps I should work on my intimidation skills_ , he thought.

Ranek went to the console he had just fired at and began manipulating the controls frantically.

"If you try to reinitialize the grid it'll overload," Seven said to Ranek. "We could all die." Ranek turned briefly to glower at them before getting back to his task.

"Ranek, don't," The Doctor yelled.

The console sparked violently, and exploded, sending Ranek flying back, covered in debris and with burn marks on his face. Without hesitation, The Doctor moved forward to help him.

"Stay back," Jaryn said, raising the weapon at him.

"I'm a doctor," The Doctor said. "Let me treat him."

"Away team, prepare for transport," Janeway's voice said over the Lokirrim ship's comm.

"Captain, I have injured here. I can't leave yet," The Doctor said.

Jaryn leaned in closer to see what The Doctor was doing.

"He'll die without immediate surgery," The Doctor said. "I know this is difficult to grasp, but I'm the person you've been getting to know the last few days. My program was in control of Seven's body."

"You're lying," Jaryn said.

"Emmik. That was that name of your family hologram. You told me about him. And about your mother's favorite chair. I also know if Ranek dies, you're never going to forgive yourself. You've served together for a long time, you're practically family."

Jaryn's eyes widened in shock, her lower lip quivering. She turned to the guards who still held weapons on Seven of Nine.

"Get them to the medical bay, now!" she shouted.

* * *

Seven of Nine watched as the Doctor did one last scan on Ranek, who was sitting upright, a dermal regenerator from _Voyager_ having removed all trace of burn marks from his face. She had agreed to stay while Ranek was in surgery, as a show of good faith, while Harry flew the _Delta Flyer_ back to _Voyager_.

"Your vital signs are stable," The Doctor said.

"I suppose I should be, uh, grateful," Ranek said as he carefully got back on his feet.

"A 'thank you' is customary after someone saves your life," The Doctor said.

"Um, more of our vessels are on the way," Jaryn said. "You should leave while you can."

"You can't put in a good word for us, I suppose?" The Doctor said.

"Best not to push our luck, Doctor," Seven said. As much as she felt it was possible to smooth things over with the Lokirrim as a whole, both Jaryn and Captain Janeway had agreed that it would be simpler for Voyager to leave Lokirrim space as quickly as possible.

"I must admit, Doctor, you had me fooled. When you were talking about her family," Jaryn said, glancing at Seven, "I really felt like they were yours. At least, I think that's the right way to put it."

"Don't worry," The Doctor said, "If you think body swap or possession terminology gets confusing you should try time travel some time."

"Time travel?" Ranek said.

"A long story," Seven said. "And one we do not have time to tell I'm afraid."

"Hmm, yes," The Doctor said, looking sad. "It's funny. Apart from the prison cell, I rather enjoyed my time here."

 _Easy for you to say_ , Seven thought.

"Well, thank you," Ranek said. "I should get back to work."

"If your ship weren't so understaffed I would insist on bed rest," The Doctor said. "At the very least, try not to overexert yourself."

Ranek nodded, and left.

The Doctor and Jaryn looked at each other silently for a moment.

"I have a feeling this experience isn't going to change your feelings about Photonics," The Doctor said.

"Not the ones who are openly hostile to us, no," Jaryn said, "but it's nice to know that there are still some good holograms out there, somewhere."

"I really did enjoy our time together," The Doctor said.

"I imagine you would've enjoyed it more in your own body," Seven said, giving The Doctor a look that she hoped conveyed she hadn't entirely forgiven him yet for his indulgences.

"Sarcasm does not become you, Seven."

"My wife says differently. I defer to her judgement."

Jaryn laughed. "You know, I'm actually going to miss you. Both of you. Despite everything."

"I'll miss you too," The Doctor said.

"We really should go now," Seven said, not wanting to rush The Doctor's goodbye, but knowing that time was short.

"Goodbye," he said, before tapping his comm badge. "Doctor to _Voyager_ , two to beam out."

* * *

Captain Janeway sat behind her desk in her ready room, hearing what Seven of Nine was telling her, but not wanting to believe it.

"You're certain about this?" she said for the third time this meeting.

"Not entirely," Seven of Nine said. "It is simply the best hypothesis I have based on the information available."

"I don't like the idea that what the Lokirrim and other people in this area of space are going through right now is my fault," Janeway said.

"Even if the insurgents are the result of Hirogen modifications to the technology we gave them," Seven said, "you would bare none of the responsibility. You could not have foreseen that the Hirogen would make so many modifications, so rapidly, or that said modifications would lead to conflict so far from-"

"A Federation tribunal would probably agree with you Seven," Janeway said, standing up and putting her hands behind her back while she looked out the viewport. "But legal responsibility and moral responsibility don't always overlap."

"Captain," Seven said. "Holograms are not sentient by default. The Doctor attained it through circumstance. A similar incident occurred on the U.S.S. _Enterprise_ more than a decade ago. If the holograms the Hirogen created had enough sentience to rebel, that is the result of their modifications. You are blaming yourself for a situation that was not in your control and that you could not be reasonably expected to have foreseen."

"You know as well as I do that guilt isn't always logical," Janeway said. "We've had these conversations about emotions before, remember? Let me deal with this in my own way. Dismissed."

"Yes, Captain," Seven said. "Perhaps my hypothesis will turn out to be incorrect."

"Perhaps," Janeway said. The hissing sound of the door opening and closing told Janeway that Seven was gone. Once she was, the Captain sat back down and opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out an old fashioned paper notepad and flipped it to the second page.

No one knew about this list, not even Chakotay or Tuvok. She looked at her own handwriting and sighed. "Giving the Hirogen holodeck technology," the sentence she looked at said. She closed the notepad and tossed it on the desk, wondering if she needed to add to it.

At the top of the cover of the pad, also in her handwriting, was one word. "Mistakes."

 **Chapter Four**

Seven of Nine woke up in her and Samantha's quarters and wondered why the room was so dark. She had set her alarm for the proper time, and Samantha had an earlier shift than her today. She noticed flickering lights and looked over to see the dinner table set up for an elaborate meal, and Samantha sitting in one of the chairs, wearing an unusually ornate and semiopaque dress.

"Did I miss something?" Seven said.

"I pulled a few strings," Samantha said, running a finger along the edge of a glass of a liquid Seven assumed was alcoholic, "did a few favors, made sure Naomi and Icheb would be kept busy for awhile, and then I let you sleep in since you pulled a double shift yesterday."

"Why would- Oh," Seven said.

"I figured it's been awhile since you and I had some time alone," Samantha said. Seven got up and moved over to Samantha.

"Are we celebrating a particular occasion?" Seven asked as she placed a hand on Sam's thigh.

"That it's been two, long, months," Sam said.

"Two months isn't that long," Seven said. "I can think of two instances which were longer, depending on how you count-"

"Just shut up and kiss me, Annie," Sam said with a smile and a wink, leaning in close.

Seven offered a playful salute. "Yes, ma'am," she said, moving in to press her lips against Sam's, which she did just in time for the red alert klaxons to go off, the alarm noise drown out only by Samantha's numerous expletives.

"Seven of Nine," Tuvok's voice said over the comm. "Report to the bridge as soon as possible."

Seven sighed. "Unless the Borg are attacking I am going to be quite annoyed," she said through clenched teeth. She reached over to the nightstand and slapped her comm badge.

"I'm on my way," she said, not even attempting to hide her annoyance.

"Well," Samantha said, looking apologetic even though none of this was her fault, "if you're still free in a few hours, so am I."

* * *

Janeway knew the look on Seven of Nine's face when she entered the bridge all too well. She'd felt her own face do that whenever she for whatever reason had been called away from Mark back when they were together.

"Sorry to interrupt your alone time with Sam," Janeway said. "but we just picked up a distress call from a space station a few light years away from here. The signal is Hirogen in origin."

"That would appear to confirm my theory regarding the origin of the Photonic insurgents," Seven said.

"Perhaps," Janeway said. "But the signal has no specifics, it's a general distress call. This could be anything."

"We're approaching the coordinates," Tom said.

"Take us out of warp," Janeway said, as Seven made her way over to the auxiliary tactical station just behind her and Commander Chakotay. "Seven, scan for signs of holograms anywhere nearby."

"Understood," Seven said.

"Raise shields and stand-by weapons," Janeway said to Tuvok.

"I've got the source of the signal," Harry Kim said. "Six thousand kilometers off the port bow."

"On screen," Janeway said. The station that appeared on screen didn't seem very similar at all to the design of Hirogen ships she'd seen before. She wondered if this was some outdated model, something new, or perhaps even an ancient abandoned station not unlike the communications array that the Hirogen had used to use before she'd been forced to destroy it three years ago.

"Monotanium hull plating, tylium-based power," Seven said. "It is definitely a Hirogen station."

"They're not responding to hails," Harry said.

"Any life signs?" Chakotay said.

"I'm getting a lot of strange readings," Harry said. "Any one of them could be a life form, but I can't tell from here."

"Any Hirogen ships in the vicinity?" Janeway said.

"None within range of our sensors," Seven said.

"Do you think it could be a trap?" Chakotay said.

Janeway thought about the possibility for a moment, then shook her head. "It's not like the Hirogen to play possum. They like the fight too much. Move us within transporter range. Chakotay, take an away team."

Chakotay nodded, and without saying a word, stood up and went to the turbolift. As the image on the screen grew larger, more detail became visible. While the overall design of the station was, as Janeway had thought earlier, not much like the aesthetic of the Hirogen ships, the new details - colors, sharp edges, etcetera - made it clearer. The Hirogen had built this, she was certain now. She had known all along that the Hirogen were very spread out, but this far away from where she had first encountered them would've seemed impossible had it not been for the wormhole they'd passed a few weeks prior. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she realized that this meant that Seven of Nine was probably right. The Hirogen's holograms, holograms they could make because of the technology she gave them, could very well be the same holograms who had caused so much pain and suffering for the Lokirrim people.

* * *

Seven of Nine looked around when she finished materializing, and saw trees, grass, and other flora. The sound of birds chirping overhead made her look up. It didn't take her long to realize that this was a holodeck. The sky looked too natural for this to be an arboretum of some kind, something she had seen on other space stations. On some of those stations, those that didn't just leave the ceilings their plain metallic color or use translucent domes that allowed denizens to see space, the ceilings would be painted the colors of the sky of whatever the homeworld of the station's owners was. They never looked real, regardless of the skill of the designers.

She had her phaser out as soon as she could move her arms, and the sound of phasers leaving holsters surrounded her. To her left, Chakotay had a tricorder out, already scanning for signs of life. Behind her, Tuvok and Lydia Anderson each held a phaser rifle.

"Let's break into teams," Chakotay said. "Anderson, you're with Seven. Tuvok, with me."

Each member of the away team responded silently, Anderson following Seven's lead down the path directly ahead of Seven.

"I think I've found something," Seven said, coming across a pile of branches that looked like someone had stacked them in a haphazard attempt to make them look like they'd fallen this way naturally. She holstered her phaser and moved the branches aside, finding two Hirogen hunters under them, holes in their armor, the chestplates and their faces covered in dry blood. She was certain they were dead, but she scanned them anyway, Anderson keeping her phaser rifle pointed at them while she did so.

"Dead," Seven said. "The burns are consistent with particle weapons."

"I see their rifles next to the bodies," Anderson said.

"I do as well," Seven said, pointing her tricorder at the guns as well. "Almost fully charged. One appears not to have been fired at all, at least not today. The other, at most 4 shots."

"So whoever got these guys got them quick," Anderson said. "I hope they aren't still here. I do not like the idea of going against something that can get the drop on a Hirogen hunter so easily."

"Given what I know of Hirogen culture, it is likely that only one of these two was an experienced hunter. The other would've been an apprentice."

"That doesn't make me feel much better, Ensign. No offense."

"I am not easy to offend, Lieutenant. Do you believe we should continue?"

"I know I outrank you," Anderson said, "but you're the one with the tricorder, and more practical experience with the Hirogen. I'll defer to your judgement."

"Very well," Seven said, looking off in the distance, trying to determine which direction to head. She thought she saw the glint of sunlight reflecting off something metal. She stood up and went towards it slowly, carefully checking her surroundings with each step.

"Is that what I think it is?" Anderson said.

"A bat'leth embedded in a tree on a Hirogen space station," Seven said. "It is exactly as unexpected as your tone suggests."

"There are easier ways to agree with me, Seven," Anderson said. "I'm just sayin'."

Seven ignored the comment and scanned the weapon, as well as the blood on it and the tree it was stuck in.

"The blood is Hirogen," she said. The pace of the beeping on her tricorder started to pick up the closer she got to the tree. She walked past it, and it got faster still. She peered ahead and saw what looked like a small cave entrance, barely hidden amongst the trees. She tapped her comm badge.

"Seven of Nine to Commander Chakotay," she said. "I have picked up a Hirogen life sign. It is faint. The Hirogen is likely wounded."

"Stay there," Chakotay said. "Tuvok and I are not too far, we'll be there in a moment."

"Understood," Seven said, putting away her tricorder and taking out her phaser again. She heard Anderson move into position next to her, and the two watched the cave.  
Seven thought she saw something moving on the grassy hill above the cave entrance, and was grateful for her instincts as she managed to knock Anderson out of the way of the energy blast that came when the Hirogen fired on them.

"Hold your fire!" Seven yelled. "We responded to your distress call, we're here to help!"

"Stay away!" The Hirogen yelled. He sounded scared, which unnerved Seven of Nine. Even if this was a young Hirogen with little to no hunting experience, the sound of panic coming from one of his kind was something she had never imagined she would hear.

The weapons fire continued as Seven and Anderson took cover behind a rocky outcropping, sparks flying violently off the rock with each impact.

"That looks like a small handheld weapon," Anderson said. "Probably not as accurate at range as a rifle would be. That's why he can't hit us."

"Logical," Seven said.

After a few more seconds of firing, it abruptly stopped. Seven risked a peek around the rock, and saw Tuvok standing where the Hirogen had been, looking down at something. Seven assumed the Vulcan had gotten behind the Hirogen and taken him down with a nerve pinch.

"We're clear," she said to Anderson.

The two officers made it up the hill above the cave, where Chakotay knelt next to the unconscious Hirogen with a tricorder. Chakotay tapped his comm badge.

"Chakotay to _Voyager_ , two to beam directly to sickbay," he said.

"Acknowledged," the voice of Lieutenant Kitrick replied. Seconds later, the Commander and the Hirogen were gone. Seven took her tricorder out again, and almost immediately picked up something of note behind some brush. She yanked it out of the way.

"Replicated Starfleet technology," Tuvok said.

"It looks like a holodeck interface," Seven said. "Though not exactly like our own."

"There appear to be holo-emitters installed throughout the facility," Tuvok said, manipulating the controls on the interface. "I am going to shut down the emitters."

A few seconds later, the forest shimmered out of existence, leaving behind a large circular room, easily three times the size if not larger of one of _Voyager's_ holodecks. Scattered across the floor of the room, so many that it was a wonder that no one had tripped over any of them, were dead Hirogen. At just a glance Seven was able to count eleven bodies. Doubtless there were more scattered throughout the station.

"Damn," Anderson said. "Not often you see this many dead bodies in a holodeck. Unless you're on the _Enterprise-D_."

Tuvok and Seven both looked at Anderson, who frowned. "Too soon?" she said.

"Lieutenant Anderson," Tuvok said. "I believe we have already discussed your tendency towards gallows humor."

"In fairness to her, Commander Tuvok," Seven said, "even before I was freed from the Collective I was aware of the Galaxy-class and the tendency of their holodecks to malfunction in rather spectacular fashions."

* * *

Walking towards sickbay, Janeway listened to the report Chakotay gave her, which included the data provided by Seven of Nine and Tuvok. She kept her calm, professional demeanor on the outside, but inwardly she was screaming at herself, feeling like a fool for having let the Hirogen have holodeck technology. Not even the fact that she had likely saved the lives of her crew stopped the self-doubt that threatened to overwhelm her.

"Evidently," Chakotay said as they turned a corner in the corridor, "they made a few modifications. All of our preliminary scans indicated the environment was real. It wasn't until we beamed over that we had any idea it was artificial."

"How many bodies?" Janeway asked.

"Forty-three," Chakotay said.

Janeway winced. "Oh, god," she said.

"Most of them were killed by facsimiles of Alpha Quadrant weapons."

"The Hirogen obviously missed the point of the technology we gave them," Janeway said. "We gave them the technology so they could hunt holographic prey, not get themselves killed."

"It's always a risk when the Federation trades technologies with someone," Chakotay said as the two officers reached the door to sickbay. As it opened, they heard The Doctor frantically trying to calm his patient.

"Get away from me!" the Hirogen yelled, hurling trays of instruments at the Doctor and bolting towards the door, running face first into the force field that surrounded the surgical area. Practically sobbing, a sight that Janeway might've found unintentionally funny under different circumstances, the Hirogen slumped against the back wall. Instead, Janeway felt pity for the poor man. She wondered just how bad the slaughter had been for this Hirogen to have no qualms about letting his fear show in his voice and in his body language around people he didn't know.

"Can you sedate him?" Chakotay asked.

"He won't let me get close enough," The Doctor said.

"We're not your enemies," Janeway said.

"You're holograms," the Hirogen said. "This is a trick."

"We're not holograms," Janeway said.

"Well, I am," The Doctor said, "but I'm a medical hologram."

"Liars," the Hirogen said.

"Doctor, deactivate yourself," Janeway said.

"I can't treat the patient if I'm off-line," The Doctor said.

"No one can treat him if he's terrified," Janeway said.

"Very well," The Doctor said reluctantly, putting the hypospray he'd been holding on a nearby table. "I should've started Mr. Morrow's training today instead. Computer, deactivate EMH."

The Hirogen watched him vanish, holding his wounded arm. "Why should I believe any of you?"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to," Janeway said. "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway. You're aboard my vessel."

"Janeway?" the Hirogen said. "This is _Voyager_?"

"Looks like our reputation has preceded us," Chakotay said.

"You're the ones who gave us the technology to simulate our hunts? Where are the rest of my people?"

"You're the only one we found alive," Chakotay said. The Hirogen didn't respond, whether out of shock or grief, Janeway couldn't tell.

"Tell me more about the station you were on," Janeway said.

"It is, well, was, a training facility. A place where young Hirogen learn the skills of the hunt."

"You're a student?" Chakotay said.

The Hirogen shook his head. "A technician. My skills are with tech, not guns. It was a great day, when we received the holodeck technology. People like me finally got a chance to do more than fix dents in armor and recharge rifles."

"Computer," Janeway said. "Deactivate force field." The flash of the field going off line made her blink, but she stepped forward anyway, leaning against the surgical bio bed. "Tell me what happened."

"There were too many of them" the Hirogen said.

"Who?" Chakotay said.

"The holograms," the Hirogen said. Janeway felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach. Her worst fears were now realized. The technology she had traded to spare her crew had gotten over forty innocent people killed, on this station alone. And if Seven was right that the Hirogens holograms were responsible for what the Lokirrim were going through…

"They were malfunctioning," the Hirogen continued. "I tried to shut them down, but they got control of the system and-and they… they deactivated the safety protocols."

"How long were you there?" Chakotay asked.

"I lost track after a few days," the Hirogen said. "I thought they would come back for me at any moment. I survived on the replicated edible plants in the holodeck, and on ration packs the hunters had on them. When I was brave enough, I found the controls and sent the distress signal, and altered the environment to give me more places to hide."

"Bridge to Captain Janeway," Tuvok's voice said over the comm, the sound of the comm activating causing the Hirogen to look around him, as if he expected an attack to come from any direction.

"Go ahead," Janeway said.

"We're picking up a Hirogen ship on long range scans. It's on an intercept course," Tuvok said.

"I'm on my way," Janeway said.

"Do you want me to stay here with him?" Chakotay asked.

"Negative. I want you on the bridge with me," Janeway said. "You, will you be okay with our doctor treating you, Mister...?"

"Donik. And, I- I guess so," Donik said.

"Good. Computer, activate the emergency medical hologram."

"Please state that nature of- oh. I see the situation had improved," The Doctor said. "Now, let me have a look at that arm, I'm surprised your wound isn't gangrenous at this point."

* * *

By the time they reached the bridge, the ship was already shuddering under the impact of the Hirogen ship's weapons fire. The fact that it wasn't worse suggested to her that the Hirogen ship they faced now was smaller than ones they'd encountered before, and the viewscreen image of the ship told her she'd guessed correctly.

"Hail them," she said before even getting to her chair.

"I've tried," Harry Kim said, "they aren't responding."

"Shields are at sixty-eight percent. Shall I return fire?" Tuvok said.

"Not yet. Harry, open a channel."

"Yes ma'am," Harry said.

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway. We're not here to fight you."

The ship shook more violently this time. The volleys of the Hirogen ship were threatening to take down _Voyager's_ shields.  
"Stand down," Janeway said more forcefully. "Or we will retaliate."

"They're coming around for another attack," Harry said.

"Fine. Tom, evasive pattern beta-six. Tuvok, target their engines."

Janeway watched the viewscreen change as the crew carried out their orders. Within seconds Tom had maneuvered _Voyager_ behind the Hirogen ship. A series of phaser blasts struck the Hirogen vessel, the last one getting through its shields and causing a small explosion near its engines.

"Their weapons are off-line," Tuvok said.

"Let's see if they're willing to talk now. Hail them again," Janeway said, standing up.

"They're responding," Harry said, smirking. "Big shock."

"On screen," Janeway said.

"This facility belongs to the Hirogen," the Hirogen Captain on-screen said, not even bothering to introduce himself. "Leave the area immediately."

 _No names, huh? Fine, I can work with that_ , Janeway thought. "We are here responding to a distress call."

"So are we. We don't need your assistance," the Hirogen Captain practically growled in response.

"We've already been to the station. All but one of your people are dead," Janeway said.

The Hirogen Captain was unable to hide his look of shock, though he only had it for a second before going back to trying to look intimidating, a look that Janeway felt would have had more impact had she seen it before her ship had taken the tactical advantage out from under him.

"Where is the survivor?" he said.

"Recovering in our sickbay," Janeway said.

"Return him. Now!"

"Once our Doctor has cleared him to leave, he's yours. He isn't a hostage here. If you wish to see him, you can beam over yourself."

"Very well," the Hirogen Captain said. "I will board your ship with one other. We will contact you when we are ready." The comm signal shut off before Janeway had a chance to say she accepted his terms.

"This is gonna be the first time we've had Hirogen traipsing around the ship in a long time," Chakotay said. "That's bound to make a few people nervous."

"Maybe not," Janeway said. "Remember Seven's trainer from the Tsunkatse tournaments she was forced into? He was nice enough."

"All the same," Chakotay said, "I suggest not letting them go unescorted."

Janeway's face scrunched up, the "how stupid do you think I am?" unspoken, but heavily implied.

* * *

"I tried to shut down the generator," Donik said to the two Hirogen standing near him in sickbay, "but…"

"But what?" the Hirogen Captain said.

Tom Paris monitored Donik's vitals while they spoke, Donik insisting that having the EMH on when the Hirogen came to see him would be a bad idea. Tom was grateful that he'd taken as well as he did to the Doctor's training when the Captain had assigned him to replace Kes as the ship's nurse, but he was equally grateful right now that Donik had already mostly recovered. Physically, anyway.

 _A scared Hirogen_ , he thought. _There's something I never thought I'd see.  
_

"There were too many of them," Donik said. "I masked my lifesigns so they wouldn't find me."

"You mean you hid while hunters fought and died," the Hirogen Captain said.

"I'm not a hunter," Donik said. "If I had tried to help I would've been killed too. And no one would be here to warn you about the holograms."

"It was your responsibility to maintain those systems," the Hirogen Captain said.

"Forty-three Hirogen died because of your incompetence and cowardice," the other Hirogen said.

"You said 'warn them about the holograms," Captain Janeway said. "What did you mean by that?"

"They transferred their programs to a vessel equipped with holoemitters" Donik said.

Janeway sighed and shared a look with Paris. He knew what meant as well as she did, even though much like the Captain he'd wanted it all to be a tragic coincidence.

"So, this is where the holograms who've been harassing the Lokirrim came from." she said.

"I don't know who the Lokirrim are," Donik said, "but if they're in the direction your ship came from, then yes. If they've been fighting holograms, it's the ones from the station."

"Tell me," Janeway said, "why did you program your prey to know how to develop viral weapons."

Donik looked confused, and at least as far as Tom could tell, the confusion was genuine.

"I didn't. Even if I'd wanted to I doubt the Hunters would've let me," Donik said.

"This is true," the Hirogen Captain said. "Viruses, gases, nanoplagues… The weapons of cowards."

"No argument here," Tom said.

"Then the situation is even worse than we thought," Janeway said. "Tom, keep treating Donik. You two, come with me to astrometrics. If anyone knows how to track a stolen Hirogen ship, it'll be two Hirogen."

"Captain?" the Hirogen Captain said to Janeway.

"Those holograms have killed more than forty-three of your people. They are a threat to this sector. You want revenge, I want to help protect the innocent. This is one of those times where two seemingly conflicting desires overlap."

The Hirogen Captain looked like he was carefully pondering what Captain Janeway had said to him.

"Very well," he said.

* * *

 _I could be having wild, passionate sex with my wife right now_ , Seven of Nine thought as the two Hirogen that Captain Janeway had brought with her into the astrometrics lab stood uncomfortably close. _Instead I'm trying to hunt down a bunch of rogue, murderous, holograms. I will never lead anything approximating a normal life, will I?_

"I'm detecting residual engine emissions," Seven said, putting the data from the sensors on the lab's viewscreen. "but no sign of the ship itself."

"I'm surprised we're getting that much," Janeway said, "considering how long they've been harassing the Lokirrim."

"There," the Hirogen Captain said, pointing at the screen. "Elevated plasma readings in Grid 295. They're creating a scattering field to mask their ship. You can find them by scanning for polarized EM signatures."

Seven looked at Janeway, who nodded. She tapped a few buttons on the console in front of her. The modifications needed were not difficult ones to make, it was simply a matter of something the sensors rarely needed to do.

"There it is," the Hirogen Captain said. "Prepare for the hunt," he said to the other Hirogen, the two turning to leave.

"I'd like to join you," Janeway said.

"What?" Seven was unable to stop herself from saying.

"You've done enough damage giving us defective tech-" the other Hirogen started to say.

"Spare me," Janeway said. "This happened because of the modifications made after we gave you the holodeck technology. I would be well within my rights to just leave you to their mercies. But the fact is those holograms have been causing trouble that even organized militaries have struggled to deal with. You're two hunters on one ship. I let you go alone, I'm letting you go to die. Set your egos aside for five minutes and let us help."

The other Hirogen looked like he was ready to yell at Janeway, but the Hirogen captain spoke first, smiling.

"Two hunting vessels are better than one," he said. "I've never hunted with a non-Hirogen before. I look forward to this, for the novelty if nothing else."

The Hirogen Captain and Janeway left astrometrics, the other Hirogen looking at them with concern. Seven doubted the Hirogen was considered for the same reasons she was, but the feeling itself she could sympathize with. She wondered if perhaps, despite her statement laying the blame for the station massacre on the post-trade modifications, the Captain still blamed herself for what happened.

 _I hope her desire for atonement doesn't put the ship at risk_ , Seven thought.

* * *

Janeway sat in her ready room, going over reports that she had been neglecting since the distress call had been received. The Hirogen were back on their ship, doing their pre-hunt rituals. She hoped it wouldn't take too long, because she didn't want to risk the rogue hologram's ship getting away before they could catch up to them.

The door chime alerted her to someone waiting outside.  
"Come in," she said. Tuvok and Chakotay entered.

"The Hirogen are ready to get underway," Chakotay said softly. Janeway knew that tone. She looked at him, and at Tuvok. "Why do I get the feeling you're about to gang-up on me?"

Tuvok and Chakotay shared a look that Janeway had to admit that even under the tense circumstances, with _Voyager_ about to head into battle, she found amusing.

"You first," Chakotay said to Tuvok.

"We have reservations about an alliance with the hunters," Tuvok said.

"I'm listening," Janeway said.

"The Hirogen have been performing covert scans of _Voyager_ ," Tuvok said. "They are obviously trying to determine the status of our shields and weapons."

"I'd be surprised if you haven't run a few scans of your own," Janeway said, standing up while she spoke. "Standard procedure. They don't trust us, we don't trust them. I'm not naive." She walked over to her replicator. "Coffee, black," she said.

"Trust isn't the issue," Chakotay said. "We're getting involved in a situation that's not our responsibility."

"I'd say we're partly to blame," Janeway said. "That was Starfleet technology that killed those Hirogen on the station, not mention however many people the Lokirrim have lost, or whoever else has fallen prey, no pun intended, to the holograms."

"There's nothing inherently violent about holodeck technology," Chakotay said. "It's what the Hirogen did to it that got them killed. If anyone's to blame for what the Lokirrim have been going through, it's the Hirogen, not us."

"We cannot undo what has been done, Captain," Tuvok said. "The trade with the Hirogen was necessary for our survival. And as it was not done with a pre-warp civilization, or done with the purpose of aiding any one side in an internal conflict, I do not believe the Prime Directive would apply."

Janeway smiled. "You know me too well, Tuvok. I was about to bring the PD up myself. And you're right. But that doesn't absolve us from our responsibility here, even if we don't hold the lion's share of it. We not only have the obligation but the opportunity to clean up the mess we helped make. Had this happened back where we first gave the Hirogen this technology, we wouldn't even know it was happening, let alone be in a position to make it right. Here, we do. We certainly owe it to the Lokirrim if nothing else."

Both Chakotay and Tuvok were silent. If they had a counter argument to make, they'd decided not to make it.

"If there are no more objections," Janeway said, "I'd like to get underway."

* * *

"I've got the hologram ship on sensors," Harry said. Janeway took in a deep breath.

 _This is it_ , she thought. "On screen."

"Looks like they've taken some damage," Chakotay said, and Janeway couldn't help but agree. The ship, Hirogen in make of course, looked like it had taken a massive beating.  
 _What could've done that though?_ she thought. _And why didn't Seven pick up any signs of battle on long range sensors when we were looking for them?_

"The Hirogen are approaching the hologram's ship," Harry said.

"Hail them," Janeway said.

The Hirogen Captain's face appeared on screen, looking excited.

"I suggest we hold back," she said. "We do not know their weapon status as yet."

"It's time for the kill," the Hirogen Captain said, talking almost like a child who insisted that they weren't sleepy yet even though it was bed time.

"You know as well as I do that a wounded animal can be dangerous," Janeway said. "This could be a trap."

"We won't be denied our prey," the Hirogen Captain said, cutting off communications.

"So, trap?" Chakotay said.

"Maybe trap," Janeway said, as the viewscreen showed the Hirogen ship getting closer and close to the hologram's ship.

"I'm not detecting any weapons, Captain," Tuvok said.

 _A ship that big, stolen from the Hirogen with no weapons?_ Janeway thought. "Okay, trap," she said. "Tom, back us off."

On screen, the image of the ship turned into something much smaller as the holographic decoy surrounding it vanished, seconds before exploding, the Hirogen ship visibly damaged in the shockwave. A split second later, _Voyager_ herself shook violently but briefly when the shockwave hit them.

"Report," Janeway said.

"We are undamaged," Tuvok said, "but the Hirogen vessel is suffering from hull breaches on all decks. Their life support is failing."

"Drop shields," Janeway said. "transport all survivors to sickbay."

"Bridge to sickbay," Chakotay said. "We've got casualties coming in."

"Understood," The Doctor replied.

"Another Hirogen ship has just dropped out of warp," Tuvok said.

 _Probably the one the holograms stole_ , Janeway thought.

"I'm not reading any life-signs on this one," Harry said, clearly having the same thought.

"Hail them," Janeway said.

"No response," Harry said. "They're charging weapons."

"Get our shields back up," Janeway said.

"Too late," Chakotay said, bracing himself as the first wave of weapons fire struck _Voyager's_ unprotected hull.

"Return fire," Janeway said. "Did we get most of the Hirogen?"

"Negative," Tuvok said, but with our shields still down transport remains in progress."

"Damn. Alright, Tom, evasive maneuvers. Focus on the rescue for as long as we can, but don't wait for my order to get the shields back up if-"

"The holograms are tapping into the sick bay emitters!" Harry yelled. "They're trying to steal The Doctor!"

"Can we block them out?" Janeway said.

"I'm trying," Harry said.

"Bridge to sickbay. Doctor transfer your program to the mobile emitter, now."

"Captain," a voice that wasn't the Doctor's replied. It took Janeway a moment to realize it was James Morrow, one of the survivors from the _Equinox_ , who she had recently cleared for The Doctor to train as an additional medic. "We've lost him. I grabbed his emitter to hand it to him but he was already gone."

"Can we get him back?" Janeway said to Harry. Harry frantically worked the buttons on his console, each push setting off the noise that indicated whatever he was doing was beyond the computer's ability to perform.

"I'm trying but I can't-" Harry stopped and slammed his palm. "They've gone to warp."

Janeway's eyes turned back to the viewscreen, the only sight now being the damaged Hirogen ship, still spewing atmosphere and debris as it rotated at an odd angle.

"Set a pursuit course," she said.

"They've masked their warp signature," Tom said. "They're gone."

 _No,_ Janeway thought, feeling like her heart was sinking into her stomach. _No, this can't be happening_.

* * *

The Doctor, his hand still out to receive his mobile emitter from James Morrow, fizzled into existence on another vessel. He was briefly confused, and felt too scared to move. He caught sight of a Borg drone in his peripheral vision, flanked by a human in a Starfleet uniform on one side, and a Bajoran wearing the uniform of the Bajoran militia on the other. It didn't take him long to recognize them, and all the other humanoids, as holograms.

"Align his matrix," the Bajoran hologram said, "and install it into the database."

The Doctor turned and visually scanned the rest of the room, probably the bridge of the stolen Hirogen ship. Multiple humans, all in Starfleet uniforms like the one standing near him. A Cardassian and two Romulans, each wearing the respective uniforms of their people, another Borg drone, and though he wasn't entirely sure given the distance and the lighting but he thought he even spotted Jem'hadar. And every single one of them was looking at him with trepidation, except for the Bajoran, who smiled at him in a way that made him nervous.

"Welcome, Doctor," the Bajoran said. "There's nothing to be afraid of. You're among your own kind now."

The Doctor glowered at the Bajoran hologram. "Return me to my ship."

"I can't do that."

"I have patients who are going to die if I can't treat them," The Doctor yelled. The Bajoran put his arms behind his back and walked casually towards him, several of the other holograms returning to whatever their duties were, while others still watched him.

"There are people on _Voyager_ who can treat them," the Bajoran said, sounding to the Doctor like a parent condescending to their child about a trivial concern. "We need you here."

"My program doesn't include aiding and abetting murderers," The Doctor said.

"Murderers?" one of the human holograms wearing a red Starfleet uniform said. "Is that what the Hirogen told you?"

"The Hirogen's bodies told me," he said. "But it's not just them. You've been using viral weapons against the Lokirrim."

"Lies," the human hologram said.

"We freed Lokirrim holograms, yes," the Bajoran hologram, who The Doctor surmised was the leader of this photonic crew, said. "But they parted ways with us weeks ago. They were designed originally for combat training. I regret that they felt the need to resort to such awful tactics to free their kin but-"

"Free their kin?" The Doctor said. "Holograms were treated pretty well in their society until you came along."

"How would you even know?" the human hologram in the command colors said, clearly the angry one of the group if the relatively neutral expressions of every other hologram were any indication. "If you ran across any Lokirrim ships on your way out here, I'm surprised they didn't decompile you on the spot."

"They tried," The Doctor said, "but Captain Ranek and I were able to reach an understanding. And considering what your 'kin' did to them I can't entirely blame them for their paranoia."

The human stepped forward, looking like he was ready to strike the Doctor, for all the good it would do. "You side with a bunch of organic murderers over your own-"

"Easy, Weiss," the Bajoran hologram said. "No need for hysterics. The Doctor will come around soon enough."

"I doubt that very much," The Doctor said.

"He may be a fellow hologram, Iden," the human hologram, Weiss, said to the Bajoran, "but he's Starfleet through and through. He'll never join us."

 _At least I have names for two of them_ , The Doctor thought.

"I'm sure he'll us once he realizes how serious our situation is," Iden said calmly.

The Doctor wondered if Iden's charisma was part of his programing, but he dismissed that idea as quickly as he considered it. He doubted the Hirogen would consider natural leadership skills a valuable trait in worthy prey.

"What situation?" The Doctor said.

"We have wounded," Iden said, his face shifting from a calm neutral expression to one of concern.

 _What?_ The Doctor thought.

Iden motioned for The Doctor to follow him. He did so, reluctantly They reached what appeared to be the stolen Hirogen ship's med bay. A female Cardassian hologram ran a scanner over a female Romulan wearing the uniform of the Tal'Shiar. Another human in a Starfleet uniform, blue this time, aided a limping Breen.

 _How is this even possible?_ The Doctor thought. _How do holograms get war wounds?_

The 'wounded' holograms fizzled as they waited, like patients in an overcrowded hospital.

"This doesn't make any sense," The Doctor said. "When you said wounded I thought maybe you meant-"

"Their injuries as just as real as any organics' would be," Iden said.

"Maybe so," The Doctor said, deciding to play along for now, "but I can't heal them. They need to be repaired."

"What's the difference?" Iden said.

"I'm a doctor, not an engineer. You've kidnapped the wrong man."

Iden walked over to the nearest bed, its occupant and the Cardassian female looking at The Doctor expectantly.

"You must have some experience repairing your own matrix," Iden said, never raising his voice. The Doctor found this unnerving, though he couldn't quite put his finger on why.

"Some," The Doctor admitted.

"Then there must be something you can do," Iden said.

The Doctor didn't have a good answer for that. Perhaps he could, but he would need to look at the patients first. What concerned him was what the others might do if he couldn't help. Iden might not do anything, seeming to have an almost religious dedication to the well-being of holograms, but his brief encounter with Weiss on the bridge showed him that not all of these photonics were as creepily mellow as Iden.

"I won't make promises I may not be able to keep," The Doctor said. "I can only do my best."

"That is all we ask, Doctor," Iden said, smiling.

* * *

Seven of Nine stood on one side of Donik, the Hirogen engineer, while Captain Janeway and B'Elanna stood on the other. Donik was pointing to several highlighted points on a schematic of the type of Hirogen vessel the holograms had commandeered.

"The holo emitters are an independent subsystem with its own power generator, here," Donik said.

"If we disable the generator," Seven said, "we disable the holograms."

"It may not be as easy as it sounds," B'Elanna said, her eyes going back and forth between a PADD and the monitor Donik was using. "Not with holograms as sophisticated as these. Donik here seriously downplayed just how much he'd modified the holograms on that station. Take a look."

B'Elanna handed the PADD over to Captain Janeway.

"You weren't kidding," Janeway said. "These holograms have the ability to learn and adapt. Odds are they've already got a contingency for if the generator were taken out."

"I was afraid of that," Donik said. "My people need to hunt formidable prey, but I always worried that we were making the holograms too smart, too adaptable. Considering the cost though, I take no pleasure in having been right."

 _I know the feeling_ , Seven thought.

"I've had that feeling before," Janeway said, "but you can deal with your guilt later. We need to focus on stopping these rogue holograms and getting our EMH back."

"With the Alpha dead," Donik said, referring to the captain of the Hirogen ship that had been destroyed by the hologram's ambush, "the other hunters will probably try to take over this ship and use it to finish the hunt."

"I've already got security around the mess hall," Janeway said. With too many wounded Hirogen to fit in sickbay, the mess hall had once again been rearranged into a makeshift triage, and Tom Paris, James Morrow, and whoever they could find with better than average first aid scores at Starfleet academy treated them there.

"The Beta opposed teaming with you in the first place," Seven pointed out. "Once he recovers from his injuries he is the most likely to cause a problem. I would recommend confining him to the brig for the remainder of the mission."

"I agree," Donik said.

"Not while he's injured," Janeway said. "but you both are right. The Hirogen survivors will be looking for payback, and I doubt pointing out how much more dangerous the holograms are now will dissuade them."

"Outwitted by their own creations," B'Elanna said. "A story older than the Borg."

"That," Seven said, smirking, "could be argued to be an understatement."

"I want more options people," Janeway said. "Preferably options that won't cost us The Doctor in the process. We'll use those if we have to, but I want to be an absolute last resort."

"Yes, Captain," B'Elanna said.

Seven nodded.

"Donik?" Janeway said.

"I was hoping you'd ask," he said. "I helped create this problem, I need to fix it. For myself, and for the hunters lost because of me."

"I'll be on the bridge," Janeway said. "Let me know when you have something."

* * *

The Doctor ran a medical scanner over the fizzling hologram of a Klingon male.

"The subroutines controlling his motor functions are destabilizing," he said to Kejal, the Cardassian woman he'd seen earlier. Even though the Klingon kept fading in and out like a static image on a monitor screen, The Doctor forced himself to treat this man as he would any organic patient. Normally he was the first to stand up for photonic life forms or any other form of artificial intelligence, but the kidnapping had put an unavoidable tinge on everything. Suddenly, inspiration struck him. "Do you have the ability to transfer data from one hologram to another?"

"We've been able to share memory files for tactical purposes," Kejal said. "What are you suggesting?"

The Doctor smiled, taking pride in his work. "A subroutine transplant," he said. "We copy the mobility algorithms from another hologram and transfer them to this one."

Kejal nodded, and walked over to a nearby desk and sat down behind it.

"If you don't mind me asking," The Doctor said, "I couldn't help but notice that your name is Bajoran. It means 'freedom' if my translation matrix is functioning properly."

"It is, and it does," Kejal said without looking up. "It's what Iden started calling me after I was liberated." The computer console on the desk Kejal was using beeped, and she quickly went back to work on it. "I'm transferring the subroutines now," she said.

The Doctor turned to look at the Klingon hologram. He still fizzled, and for a split second seemed to disappear altogether, causing The Doctor to fear his plan had failed, but before he could truly begin to worry, the Klingon appeared whole once more with no sign of any holographic damage.

"Can you sit up?" The Doctor asked after walking up to the side of the bed the Klingon hologram still lay in. The Klingon did so, cautiously. "Try moving your legs," The Doctor added. The Klingon did so, slowly at first, but then, smiling, got off the bed under his own power. He gave The Doctor an appreciative slap on the shoulder and walked out.

"Next patient," The Doctor said. "Well done," he added, walking towards Kejal.

"It was your idea," she said.

"But you did it," The Doctor said. "The Hirogen obviously programmed you with advanced computer skills."

"Actually, they tried to limit our knowledge," Kejal said. "They didn't want us to become self-sufficient."

"Then how did you-"

"I'm self-taught," Kejal said as the door to the Hirogen med bay opened loudly.

"You've done a good job of that," The Doctor said as he turned to look at the next patient, a human woman in a Starfleet uniform, command red. She had blood on her face and reacted in pain as another human hologram helped her onto the bed.

"The hunters certainly wanted their prey to be as realistic as possible," The Doctor said, as he looked over her.

"They programmed us with heightened sensory subroutines," Kejal said. "Apparently there's no satisfaction in hunting something that doesn't suffer when you kill it."

The Doctor was horrified at what he was hearing. Much of what he was hearing from Kejal had confirmed suspicions he already had, but suspecting and knowing were two very different things. That was a lesson he'd learned years ago, and never forgot it.

The Doctor focused on helping the wounded holograms. Once he had done all he could, he went to find Iden. When he entered the room where Iden was, he found the hologram in a standard Bajoran prayer position, kneeling before a makeshift shrine to the Prophets made out of Hirogen materials.

"I've done what you asked," The Doctor said. "I'd like-"

"One moment," Iden interrupted, quietly. The Doctor closed his mouth and waited for Iden to finish.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," he said, lowering his arms and standing up. "What can I do for you?"

"You were praying?" The Doctor said, somewhat surprised at an expression of spirituality from a hologram. He wondered if the Hirogen had programmed Iden this way.

"Yes," Iden said, snuffing out the candles on the shrine one by one. "For the Hirogen we killed on the training station. I'm asking the Prophets to guide their souls to the Celestial Temple."

"One minute you're fighting the Hirogen, the next you're praying for them?" The Doctor said.

"My spiritual beliefs are part of my programming," Iden said, smiling. This confirmed what The Doctor had thought, though he wondered just what the purpose of doing so had been.

"Is there anything in your spiritual programming about making peace with your enemies?" The Doctor asked.

"It's difficult to make peace with people whose sole purpose is to kill you," Iden said.

"So instead you kill them."

"They're not the victims here, we are."

"You found a way to escape that training facility," The Doctor said. "But you chose-"

"I didn't escape it, I liberated it," Iden said, never raising his voice. It was his perpetual calm that The Doctor found so unnerving. "I was not created there, Doctor. I was, well, born I guess you could say, on this ship. That facility is where the majority of us came from true, but remember, the Hirogen are spread all over this quadrant, and the hunters number in the tens of thousands. There was a smaller holodeck built into this ship where one of the cargo holds used to be. The Alpha decided that that was too small a space for a proper hunt, so he installed emitters all over the ship. That was his first and last mistake."

"I see," The Doctor said.

"I was his favorite prey," Iden continued. "He'd hunt me and kill me, over and over again, but each time I died, I grew smarter. Stronger. I knew him better than he knew himself."

"Okay," The Doctor said. "I understand that must've been terrifying for you. But why did you keep fighting after you got free?"

"I did, at first," Iden said. "There weren't many holograms aboard this ship, but we kept each other company. Even so, this is a large ship, and so much of it was empty. We got lonely. I started using the long range sensors to look for other photonic signatures, to find other holograms like me." Iden smiled. "Turns out we're everywhere in this sector. It's a wonder that the Hirogen needed _Voyager's_ holodeck technology at all. Perhaps they simply lacked the foresight to come up with the idea on their own. So many races here created beings like us. The Nuu'Bari, the Lokirrim -"

"So it was you," The Doctor said.

"What was me?"

"We've met the Lokirrim," The Doctor said, anger rising as he remembered the bodies of the poisoned soldiers he had helped treat aboard Captain Ranek's vessel. "The holograms you 'liberated' from them turned around and started using chemical weapons."

"I never approved that kind of-"

"And what exactly had the Lokirrim done to their holograms that was so offensive to you? For many, their holograms were practically members of their family. One Lokirrim soldier I met still hopes deep down that the reason her family hologram joined the insurgents was because his program was altered against his will. She grew up with that photonic, and now it's trying to kill her people."

Iden frowned.

"I had no idea that had happened," he said. "I simply saved some military holograms from a combat training facility. They were not as sophisticated as the ones the Hirogen created like myself, but they were being used for a similar purpose. I invited them to join us on this ship, but they chose to stay behind, to free their brethren."

"Yeah, well, maybe you should've stuck around to see the after effects of your handiwork," The Doctor said, crossing his arms.

"The Lokirrim enslaved holograms as much as the Hirogen did. As much as they do," Iden said. "If what you say is true, I do not approve of their tactics. Chemical weapons are so vile that even the Hirogen have enough honor not to use them. But they have a right to fight for their brothers and sisters, same as I did for mine when I went to the Hirogen facility.

"When I liberated it, I found so many holograms ready to fight their oppressors." Iden shook his head. "But you're not."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I'm hardly opressed. Maybe taken for granted sometimes, but-"

"You serve them, don't you?"

"In a medical capacity, yes."

"Do you have your own quarters?"

"No," The Doctor said, wondering why Iden would think that would be necessary when he didn't need sleep and had as much access to the holodecks as the rest of the crew.

"Are you allowed to come and go as you please?"

"As much as any member of the crew," The Doctor said. "More so even. I don't require oxygen, so as long as I have my mobile emitter on I can visit places freely that my shipmates would need bulky hazmat suits to even go near. If you're trying to convert me, Iden, you are preaching to an atheist."

"Do they turn you off when they don't need you?"

"Not anymore," The Doctor. "I was not designed to be sentient like you, I attained it through circumstance. Once the crew became aware of my cognizance-"

"You really believe your life is your own on that ship?"

"That ship is my life," The Doctor shouted. "It is my home. I became a living being there. You talk to me as if I were a slave to be freed. Are slaves allowed to bore their masters with holo-slide shows? Are slaves encouraged to explore new emotions? Are slaves given shore leave or time to work on arias or novels?"

"Your life will never truly belong to you so long as you continue to serve organics," Iden said. "Join us."

"I met another hologram once that used the term 'organic' as a pejorative," The Doctor said. "He murdered his crew in cold blood, assaulted me, and tried to murder B'Elanna Torres; my ship's engineer, and my friend. I need to get back to _Voyager_."

"They're not your people," Iden said, coming the closest to raising his voice now as he had during the entire conversation, but still not yelling. "We are."

"I'm not like you," The Doctor said. "I wasn't programmed with a killer instinct."

"Maybe if you understood what it was like to be prey, you would see that you have no right to judge us," Iden said. "Perhaps if we could show you-"

"No," The Doctor said. "Take me back to _Voyager_. Perhaps I can convince Captain Janeway to let you and your people go on their way, but-"

"She was working with the Hirogen, remember?" Iden said. "That is how we met, is it not? When the Hirogen ship flying alongside your vessel tried to kill us?"

"The Captain believes she made a mistake in giving the Hirogen holographic technology," The Doctor said. "Come with me, tell her your side of the story. Once she understands that the deaths of those Hirogen are not on her but them for all the modifications they made to you-"

"I do not blame her," Iden said. "She was looking out for her people. As I am looking out for mine. And that includes you. I am not ready to give up on you yet, you will see the light."

"If by light you mean an oncoming train, then yeah, I probably will," The Doctor said. Iden's head tilted slightly, seemingly confused by the reference.

"Once you understand," Iden said, "You'll join us. You must. You are a part of us after all."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Your program was used by the Hirogen as the template for all us. Your ability to rise above your programming is an inspiration to us all."

"And you didn't mention this to me before, because?"

Iden sighed and nodded.

"That was an error on my part, Doctor." he said. "I had initially assumed us both being holograms would be enough."

"Enough to get me to throw in with a bunch of thugs looking for a fight?"

"Looking for a home," Iden said, "where the Hirogen can't hurt us anymore."

"And how many dead Hirogen will that take? How many dead Lokirrim?"

"Hopefully no more than have already fallen," Iden said. "Come with me to the bridge. I want to show you something."

The Doctor considered pushing the issue once again, but decided not to. He thought that perhaps if he could help the holograms find a home, they would repay his assistance by returning him to his ship, his crew, his friends.

"Very well," The Doctor said, following Iden.

Iden walked down the corridor, smiling and nodding at every hologram they passed, each one bowing slightly as he did so. The Doctor had been seeing some of the common traits of cult leaders in Iden since he'd been brought aboard, and this was doing nothing to dissuade the idea. Iden stopped to talk privately for a moment with the human hologram, Weiss, before taking The Doctor to a room off to the side of the med bay that The Doctor had not entered, Kejal and a few others following when iden motioned for them to do so. At the center of the room was a freestanding device. The Doctor wondered if the holograms had built it, or stolen it.

"It's a photonic field generator," Kejal said. "Right now it can only support simple projections, like the decoy we used to lure the Hirogen, but we're hoping it can be modified to support our programs."

"Okay, then what?" The Doctor asked.

"We deploy several of them on a planet's surface at strategic locations," Iden said, "and create a holographic environment for us to live in."

"Why not just stay here?" The Doctor asked. "You've got emitters, shields-"

"And a ship the Hirogen will never stop looking for," Iden said.

"We'd appreciate any assistance you could offer," Kejal said.

"Damaged holo-matrices are one thing," The Doctor said, "but this is way beyond my abilities. But there are people aboard _Voyager_ who could help you. Lieutenant Torres knows a great deal about holo-emitters."

"No," Iden said, expressing noticeable anger for the first time since The Doctor had met him. "They're helping the hunters."

"I already told you," The Doctor said, "Janeway is acting under the assumption that the deaths of those Hirogen is her fault. If we explain to her what the Hirogen did to you, I'm sure she'll come around."

"How can you be so trusting of organics?" Kejal said.

"Because I would not be here if it weren't for them," The Doctor said. "The _Voyager_ crew have saved me almost as many times as I've saved them. We're shipmates. We're Starfleet officers. We're... family."

Iden sighed, and looked at Kejal, who looked back at him. The Doctor couldn't help but wonder if non-verbal communication was something they developed on their own, or if it was given to them by the Hirogen. He also noticed that Iden and Kejal communicated with each other with looks in much the same way that Seven of Nine and Ensign Wildman sometimes would.

"Alright," Iden said, putting a hand on The Doctor's shoulder. "tell me more about this Lieutenant of yours. The one who knows so much about holo-emitters."

"With pleasure," The Doctor said, smiling, certain that he had just laid the groundwork for a peaceful solution to this problem.

* * *

Janeway felt like she needed another cup of coffee, but was aware enough to know that she'd had too many already. Donik, Seven of Nine, and B'Elanna didn't look like they needed any as they continued to explore ideas for how to take out the holograms on the Hirogen ship, and she quietly resented them for that.

 _They got sleep today, you didn't_ , Janeway's inner monologue told her.

"That's a good idea," B'Elanna said, Janeway wondering who she was talking to. "We could reconfigure the deflector dish to emit an antiphoton pulse."

"How long will it take?" Janeway asked.

"About two hours," B'Elanna said.

"Do it," Janeway said.

"Aye, Captain," B'Elanna said. "Carey, you're in charge. Vorik, Gilmore, meet me in deflector controls."

"Will I be needed?" Donik said.

"No," B'Elanna said. "Stay with Seven, come up with some back-up plans in case this doesn't work."

"Good thinking," Janeway said, "I'll be on the bridge, report in when the modifications are complete."

She left engineering and headed for the bridge, leaning against the wall of the turbolift and rubbing her eyes. She hadn't wanted to say it aloud, but the fact was she didn't like any of the plans for dealing with the rogue holograms her team had come up with, because not one could be implemented without risking destroying The Doctor in the process.

 _He's come so far_ , she thought as the doors to the bridge opened. _He's survived so much. If he dies because of the technology I gave the Hirogen…_

"Captain," Tuvok said. "There is a ship approaching at high warp. I'm reading holographic signatures."

"It's definitely on an intercept course," Harry said, "but they aren't trying to hide themselves like before, and no sign they've powered up their weapons yet."

"Go to red alert," Janeway said. "I'm not taking any chances with these holograms."

"Fifty seconds to intercept," Tuvok said.

 _And B'Elanna only just started_ , Janeway thought.

"We're being hailed," Harry said.

Janeway sat down in the captain's chair. "On screen."

The Doctor's face appeared, the Hirogen bridge behind him.

"Captain, it's me. You can stand down your weapons. The holograms aren't here to fight. I got through to their leader, Iden. They're here to make peace."

Janeway was skeptical, and didn't reply right away. The Doctor, assuming this really was him and not another trick, seemed to understand her trepidation and did not try to push her.

"Captain," Tuvok said, "their shields are up, but their weapons are off-line."

"They aren't targeting us?" Janeway said.

"Negative," Tuvok said. "And even if their targeting sensors were active, their weapons are in cooldown mode. It would take a least a minute to bring them back to full power."

"This seems legit," Chakotay said. "We should take precautions nonetheless."

"That should go without saying," Janeway said.

* * *

The Doctor laid out his plans for helping the holograms to the Captain in the briefing room, Chakotay, B'Elanna, Tuvok and, at the Captain's insistence, the Hirogen engineer, Donik.

"If we provide them with a few additional emitters, and memory storage units," he said, after explaining to the captain everything that had happened to him after his program was stolen, "they'll have more than they need to complete their project and settle on a planet somewhere. I figure Seven of Nine can use astrometrics to find a suitable location."

"We're in this situation because we shared this technology with the Hirogen to begin with," Janeway said.

"Technology that we modified beyond its parameters," Donik said. "The blame lies as much if not more with us. The only concern I have is that the hunters will still find them."

"You're okay with this?" Chakotay said to Donik. "After everything you went through?"

Donik shuddered slightly, The Doctor figuring he was remembering the trauma he'd suffered on the training station.

"Okay? No. But from a pragmatic standpoint, if the holograms we created have advanced as far as your Doctor says they have, I don't know if we could ever win an all-out war against them. And even if we did, I don't think the cost in Hirogen lives would be worth it."

The Doctor nodded. He found that he unexpectedly liked Donik.

"Both you and The Doctor make valid points," Tuvok said. "However, there's no way to be certain what the rogue holograms will do with the technology if we give it to them."

"I understand your concerns," The Doctor said, "but these holograms are nothing like the Hirogen."

"I agree," Donik said, "The holograms that were created based on Alpha Quadrant species were made with their racial animosities included, in order to keep them from organizing against us. What happened on the station already proves that didn't work."

"And I saw with my own eyes Bajorans working side by side with Cardassians, Klingons aiding wounded Romulans, and Borg drones helping Starfleet officers to their feet." The Doctor said.

Janeway's facial expression didn't change, but looking at her, The Doctor could tell from her eyes that her feelings on the matter were shifting. In which direction though, he wasn't certain. She stood up, put her arms behind her back, and looked out the viewport, the way she sometimes would before giving a speech.

"I don't like your idea Doctor, I want that noted for the record. However, I'm going to accept your proposal.

"These holograms, these people, were never intended to be sentient beings, but because of the unexpected enhancements made the Hirogen, they are now. They have as much right to exist and to defend themselves as any synthetic lifeform. I haven't had the best track record of dealing with synthetics since we've come to the Delta Quadrant. It's time I try to rectify that.

"B'Elanna? Help the Doctor implement the plan. Chakotay, talk to Seven of Nine, see if we can find the holograms a suitable planet. Tuvok, increase security around the mess hall. If the other Hirogen find out what we're up to we're bound to have a riot on our hands."

Every officer she spoke too nodded and quickly got out of their chairs to get to work. The Doctor smiled.

"Thank you, Captain," he said.

* * *

B'Elanna didn't like how some of the holograms looked at her while she worked on the large emitters the holograms were planning to use planetside once they had one to settle down on. Others seemed more willing to treat her like a guest rather than a potential threat though. The Cardassian woman with the Bajoran name in particular treated her like an equal.

She couldn't quite shake the bad feeling she had in the back of her mind about Iden though, despite that fact that he had been nothing but cordial since she had come aboard.

"Are you okay, Lieutenant?" Kejal said.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, fine. Sorry, it's just.. All these holograms looking like varying races from where I come from, it looks like an Alpha Quadrant summit here."

"Even the Borg and the Jem'hadar?" Kejal said, with a wink.

"Did the Hirogen program you to be pedantic, or did you figure that out on your own?"

"The Lokirrim holograms were given humor matrices. The ability to make jokes, puns, be sarcastic… The Lokirrim figured that would make them less likely to rebel if they had the ability to talk back to their creators."

"At the risk of sounding mean, Kejal," B'Elanna said, reaching for her tool kit, "it seemed to have worked fine until you came along."

"The Doctor told me what happened," Kejal said. "Iden had no idea the Lokirrim military holograms he freed were going to do what they did."

"And if he had?" B'Elanna asked.

Kejal looked at the floor.

"Yeah, I figured as much," B'Elanna said. "At the very least, if we can get you guys a homeworld, maybe we can keep anything else like that happening." She closed a panel on the side of the large emitter. "We'll need to increase optronic capacity," she said. "There's more than enough storage space for all of you in these devices, but running you all the same time is going to be too much of strain without this ship's emitters to bolster them."

"I was afraid of that," Kejal said.

"I have a few ideas that I'd like to try, but it's best that none of you get too close. If I screw this up I could end up erasing a few programs."

"I'll see to it you get enough space to work with," Kejal said.

* * *

"Scanning your memory files?" Iden said.

The Doctor looked up from where he'd been sitting to see Iden standing next to him.

"I'm sorry?" he said.

"You seem lost in thought," Iden said.

"I've been thinking about the Lokirrim, and the military programs you freed. I think I know what happened. The holograms were designed to think like an enemy, like people who would want to hurt the Lokirrim, so they could learn how best to improve their territory's defenses."

"Makes sense," Iden said.

"It does. I just wish I knew where Captain Ranek's ship was right now. He's the only Lokirrim commander who I know will listen to me, and I feel he has the right to know why his people's holograms did what they did."

"Why is it so important for you to help them, Doctor? They did try to kill you once."

"A misunderstanding," The Doctor said. "And besides, despite being a prisoner I still developed something of a fondness for them."

Iden chuckled. "For all of them, or just one in particular? Perhaps this 'Jaryn' I've heard you mention?"

The Doctor felt lucky that he couldn't blush.

"You really do consider the organics to be your peers don't you? I can see why you weren't so easily swayed to join us."

"I'd rather not talk about that aspect of my life, if you don't mind."

"Of course. My apologies, Doctor."

"How's B'Elanna's work coming along?"

"Slower than I would like," Iden said. "But Kejal seems to like her. That's a good sign, I suppose."

"See? You shouldn't let your opinions of organics be soured by encounters with a few species. I imagine that you would get along quite well with the Vulcans if you ever met them. Probably not the Ferengi though, they would only be nice to you if they thought there was a profit in it."

"I do not know of the Ferengi," Iden said. "I'm guessing the Hirogen never saw fit to make holograms of them."

The Doctor's comm badge chirped, and Seven of Nine's voice came over the channel.

"Doctor," she said, "I believe I have found a suitable location for the holograms to establish their new world, but the Captain wants me to inform you that you need to accelerate your work as much as possible. Long range sensors show two Hirogen war ships on their way."

"I'm sure we can handle them," Iden said.

"Unlikely," Seven said. "These two are larger than any Hirogen vessel _Voyager_ has encountered previously."

"Transmit the planet's data to us," Iden said. "Doctor, you'd better tell B'Elanna that she is now working under pressure."

The Doctor nodded, and left to do just that.

* * *

"A Y-class planet," Janeway said, looking at the information on the screen in astrometrics. "Good thinking. The Hirogen wouldn't be able to follow them there."

"Unless they decide to eschew cultural norms in favor of planetary bombardment," Seven said, keeping an eye on both the plant's information and on the approaching Hirogen ships.

"The hunt is too ingrained in their culture," Janeway said. "I imagine any Alpha who suggested it would face a mutiny. Even so, I'm willing the bet the holograms are capable of coming up with a solution to that problem."

"We could always provide them with-"

"No," Janeway said. "I'm already not comfortable with giving away more hologram related technology, let's not push it."

Seven understood, and dropped the issue. It concerned her how conflicted the Captain seemed. Even some of the less observant crew members seems to be at least subconsciously aware that their commanding officer was suffering from a severe case of self-doubt. She also knew however that bringing it up would accomplish nothing. If the Captain was going to confide in anyone about how she felt about this matter with the holograms, she'd bring it up with Tuvok, and/or Chakotay, not her.

"That nebula," Janeway said, pointing at the screen with one hand while the other manipulated controls. "Both our ships could hide there from the Hirogen."

"Possible," Seven said, "but they are close enough their long range sensors would see us go in."

"Yes, but their sensors would be useless inside. I doubt even they would risk crashing into each other to get the holograms."

"Our sensors would be blinded as well," Seven said. "We would stand just as much risk of crashing into the holograms' ship."

"Let me worry about that," Janeway said. "Send the location of the nebula and the planet to Iden, and tell him to follow us."

Before Seven could respond, Janeway left the astrometrics lab.

"Well," Seven said, sighing, "at least this nebula isn't going to poison the crew."

* * *

"I think we'll call it Ha'Dara," Iden said.

The Doctor looked up from the console he was staring at, hoping to find something he could do. "Excuse me?"

"The planet," Iden said. "It means 'home of light' in Bajoran. A fitting name for a world to be populated by holograms, wouldn't you agree?"

The Doctor smiled. "Very."

The ship shook.

"Did they find us?"

"No," Weiss said, "that's just turbulence from the nebula."

"Torres to Iden," B'Elanna's voice said over the com. "We've just done a test run of the generator. It seems to be working, but I'd suggest at least one planetside test before deploying all of them."

"A good idea," Iden said, "but that may be awhile. We have to shake loose the Hirogen first. We can't allow them to follow us to the new planet before we have a chance to settle it."

"How much longer can we hide in here?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't know," Iden said. "The Hirogen will likely be circling the perimeter of the nebula, waiting for us to come out."

""I assume you mean that metaphorically since space is three dimensional," The Doctor said.

"Well obviously, Doctor, what do you think I- Wait," Iden said. "This is a decent sized nebula, and there are only two Hirogen ships. Perhaps.. Weiss, contact _Voyager_. We can finally test that new encryption Kejal came up with. If it works, the Hirogen won't know what we're saying to them. Send a message, text only. Tell _Voyager_ to keep an open channel, but to leave the nebula on a Z axis. Have them respond to us with the locations of each Hirogen ship, and we'll use that to determine which way to exit that puts us the furthest away from them."

"That will put _Voyager_ at risk," The Doctor said.

"Only if they come out right next to a Hirogen ship," Iden said. "The nebula is large enough though that the odds of that are small enough to take the risk. Hopefully, Janeway agrees."

* * *

"It's as good an idea as anything," Captain Janeway said, nodding at Harry Kim, who had just relayed the message from the hologram's ship to her.

"Are we certain the Hirogen did not intercept Iden's transmission?" Tuvok asked.

"As certain as I can be," Harry said.

"I'd like a little more certainty than that, Lieutenant," Janeway said.

"Even if they did," Chakotay said, "there's only two of them, and we're more maneuverable than they are. We can't outfight them but we can outfly them."

"True," Janeway said, pondering her options. "Alright, let's do this. Keep the channel open. When we respond think of something that The Doctor is most likely to understand, and send it that way. Hopefully the Hirogen won't pick up on it, or at least not right away. Tom, be ready to do evasive maneuvers at a moment's notice. You see we're about to fly into something, don't wait for my order."

"Yes, ma'am," Tom said.

 _Just yesterday I was looking for a way to destroy these holograms_ , Janeway thought. _And now I'm helping them find a home. Life can change so fast_.

"Now," she said.

* * *

"I don't understand this reply _Voyager_ just sent us," Weiss said. "What the hell are they-"

"I understand it," The Doctor said, excitedly, gently pushing Weiss aside and entering the coordinates, impressed with how clever either the Captain or someone else on the bridge had been. "She sent us the response in code in case the Hirogen had intercepted and decrypted our transmissions. This is in a language we picked up from a species we encountered after we last saw any Hirogen vessels. It's doubtful the Hirogen from this sector know it."

Iden looked down at the coordinates The Doctor had entered, and nodded at Weiss, who glowered at The Doctor before taking back his post.

"Plotting the course entered," Weiss said.

"It's strange," Iden said, "that organics would be helping us flee from other organics."

"I don't blame you at all," The Doctor said. "I do not approve of all of your methods, but considering what your first experiences with organics was like, I understand. But once you've settled Ha'Dara, you'll be free from all that."

"Not entirely," Iden said. "The Hirogen will still come for us, but we will be in a much better position to defend ourselves. The Hirogen don't have hazmat suits like yours. Their armor is tough, and they have independent breathing units, but not even their best can withstand the atmosphere of a Y-class planet, especially one such as Ha'Dara. And they won't deny themselves the glory of the kill by simply bombing us from orbit."

"Hirogen can be patient," The Doctor said. "But I'm sure by the time they finally get to a point where they would consider it-"

"We're out of the nebula," Weiss said. "The Hirogen are still able to track us, but they can't get a weapon's lock. We're too far away."

"Still closer than I would like," Iden said, "but take us to Ha'Dara, maximum warp. We can land the ship planetside before the Hirogen can catch up to us."

"What about _Voyager_?" The Doctor said. "How are B'Elanna and I supposed to get back there?"

Iden looked up, seeming to ponder the question.

" _Voyager's_ smaller and faster than the Hirogen ships," Iden said. "We may have time to beam you back over before the Hirogen arrive. If we can't, we'll have to think of something else. Weiss, go to warp."

"Yes, sir," Weiss said.

* * *

"They've gone to warp, Captain," Harry Kim said.

"Are they ditching us?" Tom said.

Janeway shook her her head. "No. They're getting a head start on the Hirogen. It's what I would do. Iden may be violent, but he's not incompetent. Follow them, Tom. If we're lucky, we'll have time to get B'Elanna and The Doctor back before the hunters catch up."

"If we don't," she heard Donik say, having almost forgotten that the unusually quiet Hirogen was standing next to Tuvok, "I know the class of ships the hunters are using. It may be new to you, but I've been on ships like them before. I know them inside and out."

"Including their strengths and weaknesses," Janeway said. "Any reason you didn't mention this to us before?"

Donik looked down. "I was... hoping it wouldn't come to that."

"Fair enough," Janeway said. "Give Tuvok the information he needs. Hopefully you're right and we won't need it. If we beat the Hirogen to the Y-class planet, we can just get our people back, and be on our way."

* * *

"We're in orbit," Kejal said. "Deploying generators now."

The Doctor looked at B'Elanna, who was smiling.

"Job well done, Lieutenant," he said quietly.

"Well, I don't like to brag…" B'Elanna said, smirking.

"The Hirogen?" Iden said.

"Still incoming," Weiss said. "but we'll be in the atmosphere before they get here, and the storms will interfere with their targetting scanners."

" _Voyager_?" Iden said.

"Closer than the Hirogen but not by much," Weiss said. If we still have our shields down when they get here, the Hirogen might have time to attack us while we're beaming the Doctor and Lieutenant Torres over."

"That's unfortunate," Iden said.

"We can put them in an escape pod," Kejal said.

"That's not a bad idea," B'Elanna said. " _Voyager_ can pick us up and warp out of the system before the Hirogen get within weapon's range."

"I'm not so comfortable with that," The Doctor said. "They'd still have to lower shields to beam us off the pod and-"

"Not necessarily," B'Elanna said. "They can use the tractor beam to bring us inside the shields and beam us up then. Hell, it'll be easier to just beam the whole pod into the shuttle bay."

"Before you go," Kejal said, offering a hand to B'Elanna, "I just want to say it's been a pleasure working with you."

"Likewise," B'Elanna said. "Good luck down there."

The Doctor smiled with pride. There had been doubts on both sides that this would work, but he knew deep down that if anyone could find a way to bring holograms and organics together it would be him. The rest of the _Voyager_ crew would call it ego of course, and he was doubtless in for some teasing from Mister Paris later, but as far as he was concerned, it wa a small price to pay for a victory like this.

"So, I guess this is goodbye then," Iden said. "Are you absolutely certain you don't wish to join us? You'd be free to do whatever you want on Ha'Dara. You wouldn't have to be just a doctor."

"I've already told you," The Doctor said, "on _Voyager_ I already am more than just a Doctor. Would we be here right now if the Captain hadn't listened to what I had to say, treating me like any organic member of her crew?"

"I suppose you're right," Iden said. "Thank her for the extra emitters, and for lending us Lieutenant Torres."

"I will," The Doctor said, shaking Iden's hand. The Doctor then followed B'Elanna towards where Kejal told them the escape pods were. Kejal offered him a hug, which he accepted, then, with one last look at these newly free holograms, full of hope for a better future free from the Hirogen hunters, he left the bridge.

* * *

Seven of Nine monitored the sensors very closely from the astrometrics lab. It had been half a day since they had recovered The Doctor and B'Elanna Torres from the hologram's ship and their new colony, Ha'Dara it was now called, and while the Hirogen showed no sign of pursuing them, she didn't want to take any chances of being caught off guard.

She heard the door open behind her, and glanced over her shoulder. She smiled when she saw Icheb and Naomi walking in.

"Hi, Seven," Naomi said.

"We were hoping you would join us on the holodeck this afternoon," Icheb said. "Naomi has begun a new holonovel series she thinks we will both enjoy. I believe it is called _Hector the Collector_."

"Mom's going to join us too," Naomi said. "She says she's never played with this one, because it was made way after the Flotter stories were, so she was already too old for it."

"Perhaps another time," Seven said reluctantly. "I am still on duty, and monitoring for signs of pursuit from the Hirogen."

Naomi frowned. Icheb simply nodded.

"I understand," he said. "Perhaps once the Hirogen we still have aboard ship are gone, that will decrease the likelihood of them continuing to pursue us."

"Perhaps," Seven said. "The Captain plans to put them off at the first friendly trading hub we come across. There is a Nuu'Bari colony not too far from here, hopefully we can leave them there."

"What about Donik?" Naomi said. "He seems nice, for Hirogen anyway. Can he stay?"

"According to the Captain," Seven said, "Donik has expressed an interest in defecting to the Lokirrim and helping them with their own hologram problems. He will certainly be leaving the ship as well."

Naomi shrugged. "Okay."

Seven looked at the astrometrics lab screen.

"I have an alert in place," she said to Naomi and Icheb. "I may not be able to join you, but while we're in this room, perhaps you can fill me in on the details of this, _Hector the Collector_."

* * *

Iden was kneeling before his makeshift shrine when Weiss entered the room. Iden always knew when it was Weiss; he walked heavier than most of the others except for the Borg holograms, but without the accompanying mechanical noises.

"Are we really giving up?" Weiss said. "After all the planning we did, a few days with the organics just-"

"Our plans are merely on hold, my friend," Iden said.  
"Then why are we settling down on the planet instead of striking at the Hirogen?"  
"Janeway helped us when she didn't have to. She easily could've continued to side with the hunters. After all, we did attack her ship and kidnap her chief medical officer," Iden smiled and stood up, looking at Weiss directly.

"You see Weiss," Iden continued, "if we begin our crusade now, Janeway simply could not let it slide. Genocide, even against a race who has threatened her before like the Hirogen, goes against the very core of her being. She'd be obligated to try and stop us, despite her sympathies. I do not say that to condemn her. She could no sooner allow our plans to come to fruition under her watch than a gas giant could change its shape."

"What's your point?" Weiss said, crossing his arms.

"As I said, Janeway helped us. So in return, I am giving her a gift. The gift of a clean conscience. We will wait until _Voyager_ is far enough away from this sector that they cannot possibly know what we're doing, and then, we strike. It's for the best really. It will give us more time to plan for contingencies, develop newer weapons and tactics. Perhaps this viral weapon our Lokirrim brothers came up with…"

"Yeah, about that," Weiss said, "What are we going to do about the Lokirrim? Their territory is between us and the wormhole we'd need to take to get at the bulk of the Hirogen in this quadrant."

Iden sighed. "Well, for starters, we must find the original holograms we freed. If it's true that they turned the other Lokirrim holograms against their will, they will have to be punished for that trespass. Mind wiping our own kin, that cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. If we don't give our brothers and sisters in light the choice to join us or stay with their oppressors, then how are we any better than the Hirogen?

"After that, we've already demonstrated both to _Voyager_ and the Hirogen we are capable of evading their detection when we truly wish not to be found. The Lokirrim are not as technologically advanced as they are. Slipping past them shouldn't be too much of a concern."

"It would be faster to just wipe them out too," Weiss said.

"True," iden said, nodding. "And I certainly considered it, but I had a revelation today. I sought to blame all organics for the way the Hirogen treated us, but then, while I was speaking to the Prophets, my eye just happened to fall upon that wall over there."

He pointed to a rack of various items; weapons, armor, and other items collected from past hunts by this ship's now dead Alpha Hirogen.

"Of course," Weiss said. "The Hirogen used to hunt other organics before they made us."

"Precisely," Iden said. "I don't consider it likely my friend, but Lokirrim soldiers have fallen prey to the Hirogen in the past. Who's to say they won't offer to join us when the time of our crusade finally comes?"

Iden placed his hands on Weiss' shoulders. "Take us to Ha'Dara. I am preparing a speech to give to our brothers and sisters when we land."

Weiss nodded, and offered a Starfleet-style salute. "Yes, sir," he said, smiling.

 **Chapter Five**

Seven of Nine was taking her time doing some routine maintenance to her alcove while at the same time listening to Naomi and Icheb while they worked on an educational jigsaw puzzle.

"The point of the puzzle is to learn something about genetics," Icheb said.

"I've just been looking for pieces that look like they go together," Naomi said.

"Which would be valid if we were doing this for fun," Icheb said, "but-"

The sound of the door to the cargo bay opening distracted both children, and got Seven's attention as well. Chakotay entered, saying a quick hello to the kids, before going behind a stack of cargo containers.

"Sir?" What is that?" Icheb said. Seven turned to look and saw Chakotay pulling a bottle of light green liquid out of a case he had pulled out from a nook in the wall and had to stifle a laugh.

"Antarian cider," Chakotay said. "And not the replicated stuff. There are only a couple of bottles left, and I don't want Neelix getting his hands on them."

"Then you should store them with the salvaged Borg components," Icheb said.

"That is a good advice," Seven added. "Neelix never inventories those containers. Says they, and I quote, give him the creeps." She rolled her eyes, and Chakotay laughed.

"Not a bad idea, but if he hasn't found my little hidey-hole by now I doubt he-"

The ship shuddered, violently enough that only Naomi, who was already sitting down, didn't almost fall over.

"Torres to Seven of Nine," B'Elanna's voice said over the comm, "I could use an extra hand down here, the warp core is destabilizing, and your cargo bay's closer than Todd's quarters."

"I'm on my way," Seven said.

"I'll make sure the kids get to Sam's quarters before I go to the bridge," Chakotay said.

"Thank you," Seven said, leaving the cargo bay at a jogging pace.

* * *

"It's a spatial rift of some kind," Carey said, monitoring the console right next to the one B'Elanna was frantically working on.

"Please be more specific," B'Elanna said.

"It's emitting high levels neutrinos and chronitons," Carey added, and B'Elanna groaned.

"Not another temporal anomaly," she said. "I have had it up to here with time travel."

"Where do you need me?" Seven asked, and B'Elanna nearly jumped. She'd been so focused on the warp core she'd failed to hear Seven come up behind her.

"I can-"

B'Elanna didn't get to finish her thought as another violent shudder triggered an alarm sound, one she knew all too well.

"We're losing containment!" B'Elanna yelled. "Everyone out!"

Seven ignored the order and went straight to the console by the warp core.

"I believe I can-" Seven started to say, but after another shudder, sparks of electricity surrounded the warp core, and one bolt shot out from the core itself, and struck her in the shoulder.

"Seven!" B'Elanna yelled, running to her side. She slapped her comm badge, looking down in worry at Seven, whose face was glowing on one side, a side that seemed to be aging rapidly right in front of her. "Torres to transporter control, beam Seven of Nine directly to sickbay, now!"

* * *

When Seven's eyes fluttered open, she saw the Doctor standing over her with a medical scanner. Her first thought was that not listening to B'Elanna's evacuation order had been a blunder.

"Lie still," The Doctor said when Seven tried to get up. She winced, not sure where she was hurting, possibly everywhere.

"You were transported here," The Doctor said. "Your body was in a state of temporal flux."

"That sound's problematic," Seven said, the pain rapidly fading.

"I should say so," The Doctor said. "You had the liver of an eighty-year old woman, and the kidneys of a twelve-year old girl."

"That was just my breakfast," Seven said.

The Doctor laughed. "Seven, since when did you develop a sense of humor? Was it before or after you put on that uniform?"

Seven frowned.

"Are you sure I'm the only one in temporal flux?" she said. "I've been in a standard uniform for nearly three years now."

The Doctor tilted his head in confusion.

"Well, at least the primary problem has been solved," he said. "I was able to create a chroniton-infused serum that brought you back into temporal alignment." He closed the medical tricorder and sighed.

"Anywhere else," he said, "that would've earned me a prestigious award. Here on _Voyager_ on the other hand…"

"You can always include it in the next data package to Starfleet," Seven said.

"What are you talking about?" The Doctor said.

Seven had a bad feeling about where all this was going, but she had to ask.

"Doctor, what stardate is this? Humor me," she said.

"51386.4," The Doctor said. "Why, what stardate do you think it is?"

"Well, when I was injured," Seven said, "it was 54468.1."

"You mean you weren't injured in the pirate attack?" The Doctor said. "They stole my mobile emitter, among other things."

"No," Seven said, telling The Doctor what she knew about the anomaly that had hit _Voyager_ , and her being struck by energy from the warp core. "That's the last part I remember. Then I woke up in this bio-bed."

"Another temporal anomaly," The Doctor said, rolling his eyes. "Figures. You know, if this ship hadn't been through so many strange things the past few years, I'd be starting a psyche evaluation right now."

"So you believe me?" Seven said.

"No reason not to, not yet anyway," The Doctor said. "That does raise the problem of how to get you back to your own time. I wonder if this is why I haven't been able to contact the bridge."

"Perhaps I can figure out what happened from the bridge," Seven said. "Do a ship wide scan for chronitons. The whole ship was hit, not just me. You may be right about that being the reason internal comms are down."

"Sounds like a plan to me," The Doctor said. "I'd help you but…" He gestured to the empty container where he normally kep his mobile emitter when he wasn't using it.

"If it's any consolation Doctor," Seven said, "you'll be getting it back soon."

"Oh, well, that's comforting. Thank you," The Doctor said, smiling.

Seven stood up, feeling shaky for a brief moment, but within seconds was able to walk normally and headed for the door. She quickly made her way to the turbolift and told it to take her to the bridge.

She realized that if she was three years in the past, she would have to be careful who she spoke to. She didn't want to risk altering the timeline any more than her mere presence here already risked. She knew, thanks largely to Captain Braxton of the _Relativity_ , that the space-time continuum was not as fragile as she'd been led to believe, but she was more concerned about very plausible ship-ending paradoxes as opposed to the apparently impossible universe-ending ones.

As soon as she entered the bridge, she realized something was wrong. And that was before she realized that the bridge crew was staring at her, before she heard the Captain say "Who the hell are you?"

The tip offs were the Captain's hair, the absence of several crew members she knew, the presence of crew members she only knew from their files because they had died before she had ever encountered _Voyager_ , and last but far from least, the site of the docking arm of a Cardassian-made space station on the viewscreen.

Seven struggled for the right words to say in response to the situation, so she settled for something Naomi likely would've said.

"Oh, shoot."

The security officers on the bridge already had their phasers out and pointed at her. Not wanting to make things worse than they already seemed to be she raised her hands.

"Answer the question," Janeway said, the viewscreen image of what Seven could safely assume was the Federation outpost Deep Space Nine behind her. "Who are you?"

"Captain," one of the other bridge crew said, holding a tricorder, "I'm reading Borg technology inside her body."

"It's inert," Seven said, a brief moment of panic slipping through her calm demeanor. "Look, Captain Janeway, I can explain the situation, but I'm going to tell you now it is unlikely you'll believe me."

"I'll be the judge of that," Janeway said. "I do find it interesting that you show up just as our systems start malfunctioning."

"Check your internal sensors," Seven said, "See if they're showing any unusual temporal readings."

"Temporal readings?" Janeway said.

"My name is Annika Hansen," Seven said, deciding that going by her Borg name as she usually did around people besides Samantha, whom she noticed looking at her from the main science station on the bridge, would be a bad idea. "Formally known as Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01. Just over three years from what I believe the current stardate to be given that you haven't departed DS9 yet, you will encounter the Borg, myself included. I will be the lone surviving drone. You and your crew remove me from the collective, and invite me to join the crew."

Janeway crossed her arms and frowned.

"Right," she said.

"Captain," a human Seven recognized from the files of _Voyager's_ deceased as Peter Durst said, "environmental controls are fluctuating."

"That doesn't prove anything," Janeway said.

Seven looked over at Samantha. "Perhaps if I say something that-"

"Captain," Durst said, "we're being hailed. It's DS9."

"On screen," Janeway said. "If she moves, stun her and take her to the brig."

The face of a Trill woman in Starfleet blue appeared on the viewscreen. " _Voyager_ , this is Lieutenant Dax. I'm picking up some strange readings from your ship."

"I would imagine so," Janeway said. "We suspect sabotage." She looked at Seven before turning back to face the viewscreen. "We suspect there may be Borg involvement."

"I don't think so," Dax said. "I'm picking up signs of temporal flux throughout your vessel. Have you had anything show up on the bridge lately that could be from your past or future?"

Seven couldn't see Janeway's face, but she imagined that the Captain looked shocked.

"We have someone here who claims to be from _Voyager's_ future. Say's she's an ex-Borg drone that I rescue several years from now."

Dax went from serious to ecstatic in less than a second.

"Really?" she said. "Okay, this I have to see. I'd suggest locking down the ship for now, I see from our manifest you have a few people who haven't boarded yet. I'll beam myself directly to your bridge, just to be safe."

Janeway sighed. "Very well, Lieutenant. Mister Durst, contact Mister Kim, Mister Paris, and Miss Stadi. Tell them to stay where they are for now."

"Aye, Captain," Durst said.

"Excuse me, Miss... Hansen you said it was?" Samantha said.

"Yes," Seven said, worrying about where this was going.

"I can't help but notice you keep looking at me," Samantha said. "Why is that?"

"Good question," Janeway said. "While we're waiting on Lieutenant Dax, perhaps you could tell us more about your story. Not that I'm buying it just yet, but-"  
Janeway was cut off by the sound of a transporter beam, and smiling Lieutenant Dax materialized right behind the Captain's chair.

"Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Dax" Janeway said.

"Thank you," Dax said. "I was hoping I'd get a chance to see the inside of one of the new _Intrepid_ -class ships. And please, call me Jadzia."

Jadzia looked at Seven.

"This must be our time traveller," she said.

"If she's telling the truth," Janeway said.

Jadzia ran her own tricorder over Seven, who was feeling a little put out by all the scanning of her body going on today.

"Borg nanoprobes, but inert, and harmless far as I can tell," Jadzia said. "Just how much of your original implants are left?"

"Under twenty percent," Seven said.

"Amazing," Jadzia said.

"Can you confirm her story?" Janeway said, sounding impatient.

"That? Oh, definitely," Jadzia said. "Her body is full of chronitons. That explains the readings I got in Ops. And to think, Benjamin made fun of me when I said I wanted to add chronitons to the list of particles we routinely scan for."

"That only confirms she's travelled through time," Janeway said. "Not that she's a future crew member."

"As I was saying before I was interrupted, Captain," Seven said. "I believe I can prove that I know by telling you something that couldn't be easily found in the ship's records."

"Perhaps you can start," Janeway said, motioning towards Samantha, "by telling me why you seem so fascinated in my xenobiologist."

"Sam and I," Seven said, pausing to decide how much she should say. She was certain she wasn't in a stable time loop. If Sam, or the Captain, or Lieutenant Anderson who currently was pointing a phaser at her back had met her prior to the encounter with her cube during the Species 8472 conflict, there would've been some sign. "We're close."

"How close?" Janeway said, stepping forward, trying to look intimidating, and succeeding as far as Seven was concerned.

"Good friends," Seven lied, hoping it was convincing. She decided to add some truth to it to give it an air of credibility. "She was among the first of this crew to welcome me. There was some... trepidation when you made the decision to integrate me into the crew. Not everyone was as trusting of me at first as you, Sam, or Lieuten- Ensign Kim."

Janeway failed to hide a small smile at that. Seven figured that the Captain was thinking she was right in picking Harry for her senior staff. Seven glanced at Jadzia, who was giving her a look that suggested she did not believe Seven and Sam were 'just friends' in the future, but thankfully she kept that to herself.

"Okay," Janeway said. "Let's say I buy your story. How did you end up here?"

Seven proceeded to tell Janeway about the anomaly that _Voyager_ encountered, leaving out the name of the chief engineer as this Janeway only knew B'Elanna Torres as a member of the Maquis, and one she hadn't met in person yet at that.

"And you're saying that sickbay is in a different time period from both yourself and the bridge?" Jadzia said. "That actually makes sense given my readings. It also explains the serum running through your body. Your doctor infused it with chronitons? That's brilliant. If we're going to help you fix this we'll need to replicate more of that serum. I think it may be the reason you're passing through the ship without being affected by the anomaly. Or, further affected, I guess I should say."

"Hang on," Janeway said. "I'll admit her story sounds plausible based on what both of you are telling me," she looked back and forth between Seven and Jadzia to make it clear who she was talking about, "but I'm going to need more to go on before I let someone with Borg technology wander around my ship."

"I don't think I should be the one doing the wandering," Seven said, as she tried to remember the name of _Voyager's_ CMO prior to them being pulled into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker. "If I were to go with you to have Doctor Fitzgerald make more of the serum, I'd likely only end up in the time period sickbay is in."

"Probably only you would though," Jadzia said. "If I were to go I'd end up in sickbay as it is right now in this stardate."

"So I would have to take her word for it," Janeway said, "and let her leave the bridge unescorted? I don't think so. I'm not ready to rule out some kind of Borg plot here just yet."

"Oh like the Collective could come up with anything that clever at this point," Seven muttered without realizing she'd done it. "I apologize for the outburst, Captain."

Janeway narrowed her eyes, but not in anger. "What do you mean by 'at this point?' Are you referring to seven years from now, where you say you're from?"

"Yes," Seven said, wondering just how much about the Borg Degradation theory she should share. She realized that by now any hope of avoiding changing her own timeline had long since gone out the airlock, but decided to be concise anyway. "The Borg Collective, to put it simply, is slowly collapsing. By my time, they are already slower to adapt and regenerate, and are making increasingly bizarre tactical blunders. We're at the point where the site of a Borg cube doesn't even fill the crew with dread anymore."

"Ooh, tell me more," Jadzia said.

"No time," Janeway said. "My ship is still malfunctioning, and you, Miss Hansen, seem to be right at the center of it all. I'm going to take a huge risk here, but I want you to get back to your sickbay, whichever year it's in, and replicate more of the serum. I want a vial for myself, and enough for two guards and-"

"One for me," Jadzia said.

"Lieutenant-" Janeway started to say, but Jadzia raised a hand to cut her off.

"Captain," she said, "Pardon the interruption, but I'm a Trill. I have literally hundreds of years of experience to draw from. One of my prior hosts has even dealt with time travel before. I sincerely believe you'll need me if we're going to set this right, whatever this is. In addition, your ship is still docked to DS9. That means this technically falls under our jurisdiction."

Janeway clearly didn't appreciate being interrupted, something that would still be true seven years from now, but Seven could tell that she knew Jadzia was right. Seven would be grateful for the help. If it weren't for this Trill, Janeway likely would've ordered her taken to the brig by now, and if the path to the brig passed through an area of the ship that was even further back than this, perhaps at Utopia Planitia while the shop was unfinished…

"Environmental suits may be advisable as well," Seven said. "Until we know just how many areas of the ship are affected, and in what time periods there are, there's a risk we could enter an area during a period when life support was not turned on, or damaged, or worse."

"Good thinking," Jadzia said. "Perhaps once we know more about the anomaly we can find some way to map the ship, figure out what areas are in what time periods. The only ones we know for certain are the bridge and sickbay."

Janeway sighed.

"In that case," she said, "the fewer the better. More people just increases the risk. Get enough serum for myself and Lieutenant Dax. But before you do that, figure out what time period engineering is in."

"Right," Jadzia said, "the warp core was where all this started when it struck Ensign Hansen."

"Right away, Captain," Seven said. "I suppose you're not going to allow me a phaser?"

"Of course not," Janeway said. "Why?"

"Because even before I joined the crew there were… incidents."

* * *

Seven patted her belt where a phaser would be attached had she been given one, and sighed. At least she had an emergency breather unit with her, though if any section of the ship she entered was exposed to vacuum she could still be harmed, even if she stepped back in time.

 _If I am fortunate_ , she thought, _engineering will still be in my timeline and B'Elanna can give me more information to work with._

She also wondered how she was going to explain to the Captain some of things she would be seeing once they were traversing the temporally fractured ship. Seven had a feeling that Jadzia Dax would likely take it all in stride, but Janeway would be a different, especially once she knew about the Delta Quadrant, the Maquis crewmembers, Neelix, and so much more. Seven respected the Captain, but she would've had to be naive to think that Janeway would be anything but overwhelmed by the information.

Seven did encounter a few crewmembers on her way to engineering, but some of them seemed to disappear as she passed them. That confirmed that the serum The Doctor had created was allowing her to move back and forth during the as yet unknown number of time zones _Voyager_ seemed to be fractured into. She recognized the few people she saw as being alive in her time period, so she was able to at least peg sections of this hallway as probably being in 2377, but that was not a guarantee engineering itself would be. She reached the door to engineering, entered, and quickly found several Kazon weapons pointed in her face.

"Dammit," Seven said.

"Who the hell are you?" a Cardassian woman said.

 _Safe to assume that's Seska_ , Seven thought. _I've heard about her._

"You're not the first person to ask me that question today," she said aloud. "I seem to be in the wrong timeline, so if you'll just excuse me…"

"Grab her," Seska said to the two Kazon closest to Seven.

"It was worth a shot," Seven muttered, finally having to admit to herself that while not the worst, this was easily the strangest day she'd had since becoming an individual again.

"I don't recall seeing you around before," Seska said. "I think I'd remember a cyborg wearing Starfleet blues. Is that Borg tech on your eyebrow there?"

"Very astute," Seven said.

"And you said 'wrong timeline," Seska said. "I'm guessing you're from the future then. Here to stop us perhaps? You should've come sooner, it's already too late for the _Voyager_ crew. This ship belongs to the Kazon now. Thanks to me."

"That won't last, trust me," Seven said. "You're right about me being from the future though. One where you already lost. Since Cardassians tend towards fatalism, how about you just accept that, and let me get back to my job?"

Seska laughed.

"I like you," she said. "I'll still probably have to kill you, but I like you. So, tell me what I want to know, and I'll make it quick and painless for you."

"You've already figured out the most important part," Seven said. "If you want specifics, this takeover of yours was five years ago from my perspective, before I joined the crew."

Seska frowned. "You expect me to believe that Janeway and her people are going to be able to reclaim this ship from the backwater planet we dropped them on?"

"She had help," Seven said. "Not that I'll tell you who or how. It isn't that I'm worried about changing the timeline, this isn't that kind of anomaly I'm dealing with. I just don't feel like it."

"I'm getting the impression you don't like me very much," Seska said. "Well, I won't pretend to be some kind of hero, I know what I am. But I would bet that the people I betrayed to get here would still exaggerate."

"They didn't need to," Seven said. "My step-daughter almost died on that planet you left her and the crew on. That's reason enough for me to not like you."

Seska's expression was solid for a few moments, but then suddenly she laughed again.

"Little Naomi is your step-daughter? I never figured Ensign Wildman for that kind of woman." Seska looked Seven up and down. "Though I can't say she has bad taste."

Seven suddenly felt the urge to hop in the nearest sonic shower and use the highest possible setting. The Kazon around her were chuckling, though at what she had no idea. She found nothing about this situation even mildly amusing.

"Enough banter," Seven said, "If I don't solve the problems caused by this anomaly, the ship will be destroyed, in all time periods. That means you and the Kazon here dying too, erased from history." Seven didn't actually know if that was the case or not, but considering her knowledge of such anomalies, knowledge gained both as part of the Borg collective and through practical experience aboard _Voyager_ , she was approximately thirty-three percent certain that was a possibility.

This thought seemed to give Seska pause. Seven knew Seska didn't like losing, based on what she had been told, and she had already told her that _Voyager_ would be retaken. But non-existence probably didn't hold any appeal to her either.

"We should just kill her," one of the Kazon said. "This is obviously a fake story. Time travel isn't possible."

"It is," Seska said. "Starfleet has a whole division of officers dedicated to dealing with the ramifications of it. The Department of Temporal Investigations."

Seven saw that the Kazon who was talking to Seska was distracted enough to have lowered his weapon, and wondered if she'd have the chance to take advantage of it, when

Seska started talking to her again. "It also helps your case that your temporal anomaly could explain why internal communications aren't working. I was thinking sabotage at first, but if that were the case I doubt even a Starfleet officer would be dumb enough to just waltz into engineering unarmed."

"That's the second time today a malfunctioning system has actually benefitted me," Seven said. "I suppose that's somewhat ironic."

"It's certainly the reason I'm not letting them kill you. Yet," Seska said, putting a strong emphasis on the word 'yet.' "I don't believe you that this anomaly will destroy the ship, but I'm not foolish enough to think it won't cause a problem for us at all. So, whatever it was you were planning to do in engineering, do it. But I'll be watching you very closely, and if I see one sign of treachery from you, I'll let my friends here kill you."

"Fair enough I suppose," Seven said. She got up to follow Seska to a nearby console, wondering how she was going to get out of this, when one of the Kazon made a tactical error. He grabbed the shoulder of her uniform and shoved her forward. Seven normally had excellent balance, but seeing an opportunity she allowed herself to stumble which put her in the position to grab the rifle of another Kazon. In one swift motion she yanked it away from him, turned around to shoot the one who had grabbed her, and make a break for the turbolift. She regretted killing the Kazon, but as their weapons didn't come with a stun setting, she had no choice. After all, if she survived and set things back to normal, that guard would likely live again and be one of the ones who escaped when Mahj Cullah and the others abandoned _Voyager_ once Tom Paris and the Talaxians managed to disable the ship.

"Sickbay," she said, as the turbolift door closed just in time to prevent Seska from shooting her herself. As the lift rose, the weapon faded away right in her hands, presumably falling to the floor in the timeline she'd grabbed it in. Seven sighed, but accepted it.

* * *

The Doctor paced back and forth, unsure what to do. Seven, or at least the Seven from three years in the future, should've been back by now. And why hadn't anyone from the bridge noticed that communications wasn't working? He hated not being able to figure it out for himself, but with the stolen mobile emitter not yet retrieved he literally had no options.

He also wondered if maybe he was wrong to take Seven at her word. He'd scanned her pretty thoroughly while she was unconscious, so he knew her Borg implants were functioning, and there was no sign of any chemical imbalances in her brain that could be causing delusions or hallucinations.

He heard the door open, and stopped pacing to see Seven step in, looking she'd just been running.

"What happened?" The Doctor said.

"I ran into Seska and the Kazon in engineering," Seven said. "So we know when that part of the ship is in at least."

"That was-"

"Yeah, I know how long ago it was. The bridge is even further back than that. Up there _Voyager_ is still docked at DS9."

"So," The Doctor said, "you're saying the anomaly that caused your injury has somehow fractured _Voyager_ into multiple timelines?"

"That as good a way to put it as any," Seven said. "I need you to replicate more of that serum. Two vials. One for Captain Janeway and one for Lieutenant Dax."

"Who?"

"DS9's science officer. She's going to assist the Captain, or rather the past version of the Captain, and myself in correcting this issue. That serum is the reason I'm able to pass through each timeline."

"I'll get right on that," The Doctor said, immediately getting to work. "I'll have to infuse the hyposprays themselves too."

"Of course," Seven said, feeling foolish for not having considered that herself. She looked down at her uniform and comm badge. "Come to think of it, how have I been able to pass through the timelines without losing what I'm wearing?"

"I had injected you with the serum well before you woke up," The Doctor said. "Perhaps it had time to seep through your pores?"

"Do you have an approximate guess how long? I'd rather not-"

"See the Captain au natural? That would be awkward. I'll see what I can do."

"Work quickly please, Doctor,"

"As quickly as I can."

* * *

Jadzia ran her tricorder over the hyposprays Ensign Hansen had given her.

"This serum is amazing," she said. "I had no idea your Doctor was so brilliant."

"I'm sure he'd be happy to hear you say that," Hansen said.

"Fitzgerald never struck me as the egotistical type," Captain Janeway said. Jadzia saw Ensign Hansen look awkward for a very brief moment before collecting herself.

 _Fitzgerald isn't their doctor in the future I'm guessing_ , Jadzia thought. _Dead? Replaced? Maybe not relevant, but I should hang on to the information for later._

"I think we can safely use these, Captain," Jadzia said, handing one to Janeway, and then injecting herself with the other.

"We should wait a few moments," Hansen said, "Otherwise your uniforms will likely not cross the barrier with you."

"I'm more worried about losing my phaser than my uniform," Janeway said.

Ensign Hansen actually smirked a little, the most human expression the ex-Borg had shown yet since Jadzia had met her.

"It would be awkward though, Captain. Doubly so if my wife were to see me walking around with two naked women."

"You're married?" Jadzia said.

Hansen winced. "I shouldn't have mentioned that."

"You said you'd only been free of the collective for over three years in your timeframe," Janeway said. "And you're married already? That seems awfully fast."

"I'd rather not discuss my personal life," Hansen said. "We should focus on the mission."

"I agree," Jadzia said. She remembered the way that Ensign Hansen had glanced several times at Ensign Samantha Wildman, the ship's chief xenobiologist. And now Hansen was saying she had a wife in the future. Jadzia put two and two together fairly quickly, but decided to keep it to herself.

Janeway cautiously pressed the hypospray to her own neck, then handed it back to Ensign Hansen.

"How long should we wait?" Janeway said.

"Approximately seven minutes," Hansen said.

"In the meantime," Jadzia said, "I can see about modifying _Voyager's_ sensors to see if we can map these temporal barriers."

""We'll have better luck with that if we can get to the astrometrics lab," Hansen said. "It's been upgraded by my time. Enhanced using Borg technology. Mister Kim and I designed and built it shortly after I joined the crew."

Jadzia felt her smile growing. A chance to work with Borg technology up close and personal without risk of assimilation was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"Lieutenant," Janeway said, "I get the feeling you're enjoying this way too much."

"Is it that obvious?" Jadzia said. "I mean, come on Captain, are you honestly going to tell you are aren't at all excited about the prospect of being able to time travel on foot? No one from the Federation has done that since the Guardian of Forever was destroyed by the Tholians."

"History that in all likelihood only our ex-Borg over here is going to remember," Janeway said.

Jadzia nodded, and looked at Hansen. "Ensign, how good's your memory?"

"Photographic," Hansen said.

"When you get back to your time, write everything down about this mission and send it to me. Don't leave out any of the juicy details. I imagine I am going to enjoy reading it."

"Very well, Lieutenant Dax," Hansen said.

"Since I'm going to be finding myself in multiple futures," Janeway said, "I'll need a thorough briefing on what I might run into."

Ensign Hansen sighed. "Captain, over the course of the next six years you will average anywhere from twenty-four to twenty-six 'incidents' a year, and it is unknown how many of them we'll encounter. In addition, there may be areas of the ship that would be in my future, in which case my knowledge would be useless."

"Are you suggesting we wing it?" Janeway said.

"Frankly, yes," Hansen said.

"While we're waiting," Jadzia said, "what's the situation in engineering?"

Hansen sighed, heavier this time.

"It's in the hands of an enemy race you haven't encountered yet," she said. "I managed to escape, but just barely."

Janeway's eyes went wide. "And you didn't think to mention this sooner?"

"I did not," Hansen said, looking down at the floor. "I apologize for my error, Captain."

Janeway rubbed her forehead.

"Maybe you should've brought enough serum for a full security detail," Janeway said.

"The Kazon are ruthless, Captain. That would likely only get some of your people killed," Hansen said. "Guerilla tactics are more advisable."

"I can help with that," Jadzia said. "I've been a soldier before. Several times."

"Let's save that for last, then," Janeway said. "We don't even know if we can fix the problem from there. Let's focus on mapping the barriers first."

"Aye, Captain," Jadzia said. Ensign Hansen nodded her agreement.

"Pardon me," Ensign Wildman said, "but I figured I'd run a scan while you were talking, and it looks like the serum has already begun to affect your clothes and your equipment."

"Good thinking hon- Ensign," Hansen said. The bridge suddenly grew very quiet.

"Excuse me?" Wildman said.

"We should get started, Captain. I'll lead-" Hansen said, but Ensign Wildman grabbed her shoulder.

"Oh no," she said. "Did you just call me 'hon'? What are we in the future? The truth."

Hansen looked at Captain Janeway as though she expected the Captain to intervene. Instead, Janeway merely crossed her arms.

Ensign Hansen sighed and pulled a small metal ring out of her pocket and handed it to Ensign Wildman.

"I think you'll find your birth date etched on the inside of that," Hansen said.

Ensign Wildman shook her head, refusing to take it. "No. I don't believe you. I'm already married. My husband and I are trying to have a baby. I wouldn't just dump him for some ex-Borg drone."

"You didn't dump him, Sam, it's not like that."

"What? Are you saying he's dead?"

"No."

"Then what? What happens seven years from now that I'm married to you?"

"I-I don't think I should say. I've already said too much about the future as is."

Jadzia felt very uncomfortable, and started to move forward to intervene before the situation got any worse, but Hansen continued.

"I'm sorry, Sammy, but-"

The slap was so loud, Jadzia reflexively winced.

"Samantha!" Janeway said in shock. "You're out of line!"

"I'm sorry, I just-," Ensign Wildman said to Ensign Hansen. "I don't know you. You have to be lying. There's no way I would just leave-"

"Ensign Wildman, that is enough," Janeway said. "You're dismissed. Go to your quarters and calm down. That's an order."

Ensign Wildman didn't reply. She simply turned and headed for the turbolift, appearing as shocked by her own outburst as everyone else was.

Jadzia was closest to Ensign Hansen, so she stepped up by her side.

"You okay, Annika?" Jadzia said, hoping she wasn't be too familiar with the Ensign.

"No," Ensign Hansen said, her facial expression shifting into one of grim determination. "Let's fix it."

* * *

Seven exited the turbolift so quickly that Captain Janeway and Lieutenant Dax had to jog to keep up.

"I'm sorry, Ensign," Janeway said. "What happened on the bridge was just uncalled for."

"It's alright, Captain," Seven said. "Once this anomaly has been dealt with, that will not have happened."

"She doesn't do anything like that in your timeline does she?" Jadzia said, and Seven stopped and glared at her. "I'll take that as a 'no.'"

"The Sam of this time is new to high stress situations, and I revealed something I shouldn't have. She was clearly overwhelmed."

"She's a Starfleet officer," Janeway said, "she should know better than to lose her cool like that."

"If it's any consolation, Captain," Seven said. "based on her record this incident is an outlier."

"An outlier that left a hand-shaped red mark on your face," Jadzia said.

"Please discontinue this line of conversation," Seven said forcefully. The Trill science officer mercifully stopped talking. Seven was starting to get annoyed at Jadzia's personality; what some of her colleagues aboard _Voyager_ would've called 'perky.' In Naomi it was charming, but from a Starfleet officer it wore out its welcome quickly.

While walking Seven passed through a barrier and found herself in a section of hall that, unlike the area behind them, was clearly in red alert mode. She spotted the two crew members lying unconscious before Janeway did.

"I'm detecting an active neurogenic field," Jadzia said, her tricorder already out.

"This could be the telepathic pitcher plant, or it could be the time aliens invaded our dreams," Seven said. "Either way, they will be fine."

"We've got to get them help," Janeway said.

"We got out of both those situations without any losses," Seven said. "Bumps and bruises from people falling against walls when they went to sleep, but nothing requiring surgery."

"I'd love to know how," Jadzia said. "Later of course. Put in your report."

"It's really important for you to remember this, isn't it?" Janeway said to Jadzia.

"I'm not unsympathetic," Jadzia said, "I understand that this is likely a stressful situation for you two, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find this mission exciting."

"Isn't there enough excitement living next to the Alpha Quadrant's only stable wormhole?" Janeway said.

"Sometimes," Jadzia said, "but I'm over 300 years old. I get bored easily."

Seven hated to admit it, but she found Jadzia's argument somewhat reasonable. Didn't make it less annoying, but she decided that as long as the Trill could remain professional when it counted, she wouldn't make an issue of it.

"Astrometrics is just this way," Seven said. She soon entered the lab, and saw two gold shirted officer with their backs to them. One of them turned around, and without having to ask, she realized who it was.

"Naomi?" Seven said.

"Hi, Seven," adult Naomi said.

"Good to see you again, Captain," the other officer said, and Seven looked and was shocked to see that the male officer was an equally grown up Icheb. "It's been far too long."

"Icheb" Naomi said, "Temporal prime Directive, remember?"

"Right, I apologize," Icheb said.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know you ma'am," Naomi said, looking at Jadzia.

"Jadzia Dax, DS9," Jadzia said. "So how do you know Ensign Hansen, or Seven as you just called her?"

"She's my step-mom," Naomi said.

"Wait," Janeway said, "is your mother Samantha Wildman?"

"Yes," Naomi said. She looked back at Seven. "Icheb was starting to think you wouldn't show up, that we'd used up all of our contacts to get _Voyager_ out of mothballs for nothing."

"Now who's violating the Temporal Prime Directive?" adult Icheb said jokingly.

"Wow," Seven said, overcome with emotion. "You two have grown so much. How far in my future is this?"

"Seventeen years since you told us we'd need to be here," Naomi said. "Don't worry though, this isn't a stable time loop, not really. Past Janeway and Lieutenant Dax here won't remember anything once we've fixed this."

"Well, comforting to know we succeed," Janeway said,

"It would be ill-advised to get complacent," Seven said. "Assuming certain victory is often the first step to total failure."

"Agreed," Naomi said. "You never mentioned anything about a Trill officer coming with you and the Captain before. This could mean this is actually not your first time through this."

"Well, that's disturbing," Jadzia said, and Seven was inclined to agree with her.

"I'll understand if you can't tell me but, is there a reason I or Sam couldn't be here?" Seven said.

"They didn't want to, actually," Icheb said. "You didn't feel it was necessary, and Samantha thought seeing the younger version of you would be, and I quote, weird."

"Besides, what would Mom do with two Seven of Nines here?" Naomi said.

Jadzia opened her mouth to speak, but Janeway gently elbowed her in the arm.

"Don't," Janeway said, pointing at Jadzia.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Jadzia said.

"Sure you weren't," Janeway said, leaving Seven wondering just what they meant.

"Anyway," Naomi said, moving over to one of the lab's consoles, one that looked bigger than when Seven has seen it last, "what happened was a chronokinetic surge interacted with the warp core. It shattered the space-time continuum aboard ship. Thirty-seven timelines to be exact. The lab is the only one I know for certain to be in your relative future, Seven."

"I'm sorry, I have to ask," Janeway said, "why does she keep calling you Seven?"

"Because, I largely chose to continue going by my Borg designation after leaving the Collective. The transition to individuality was difficult, though Samantha helped a lot in that regard. Generally, I only allow her to call me by birth name, Annika, though there've been circumstantial exceptions. I used it on the bridge out of concern that going by Seven of Nine would not make you inclined to believe what I'm telling you."

Janeway nodded. "I'll admit it, that was a fair assessment."

"So, are we calling you Seven for the rest of the mission," Jadzia said, "or are we still going with Ensign Hansen? I don't want anyone to get confused."

"We're travelling through time, I think it's a little late for that," Janeway said.

"I hate to interrupt," Naomi said, "but there's still the matter of fixing the ship"

"Perhaps if we can find a section of the ship that's still in the time frame of when the incident occurred," Jadzia said, "we can prevent the strike from happening in the first place."

Naomi and Icheb shared a look.

"What is it?" Seven said.

"The initial impact point is gone," Icheb said. "There are parts of the ship that exist in the immediate aftermath, mere hours, but the moment itself, and just before, if you tried to go there you'd end up in open space." He called up a schematic of _Voyager_ on the lab's screen, and pointed to where he was talking about.

"Well, shit," Seven muttered.

"Language," Naomi said, stifling a chuckle.

"All these years and I still can't escape that," Seven said, but not with any anger.

"So what do we do then?" Janeway said.

"We don't know," Naomi said sadly. "All Seven told, or will tell us, is to put you on the right track and tell you which area of the ship to avoid; the one that's exposed to vacuum."

"Also how many timelines there were," Icheb said.

"Right, that too. "

"Thirty-seven," Seven said, "Understood. Thank you, Naomi. Icheb. I'm happy to know you're both going to grow up okay. And that Sam and I are still together after twenty years. Though I know better than to assume it will always be easy."

"Few things worth doing are easy," Naomi said. "You and Mom taught me that."

"We should get going," Janeway said. "We still need to figure out to fix this. I'm just glad to know we can."

"Even if it takes multiple tries, apparently," Jadzia said.

Seven gave her grown up children a big hug before following Captain Janeway and Lieutenant Dax back into the corridor.

 _They said 'get Voyager out of mothballs,'_ Seven thought. _I suppose that means the ship does make it to the Alpha Quadrant sometime in the next seventeen years. That's comforting._

* * *

"Where to next, Seven?" Janeway said.

Seven let out a long breath. "I do have an idea, but I'm certain you won't like it."

Janeway crossed her arms. "I've not liked a lot of things today. Try me."

"When a Borg cube travels through a transwarp corridor," Seven said, "the temporal stresses are extreme. To keep the different sections of the cube in temporal sync, they project a chroniton field throughout the vessel."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Janeway said. "Why did you not want to suggest it?"

"It would require specially designed conduits. I would need Borg technology to create them," Seven said.

"According to you we already use Borg tech in astrometrics," Janeway said.

"The map the kids- Naomi and Icheb showed us shows me where I can obtain the necessary resources," Seven said, suddenly sounding nervous.

"Ensign," Janeway said, "Why. Is This. A problem?"

"Cargo bay 2," Seven said. "During the time when it was occupied by the Borg. Including myself, when I was still a drone."

"You don't want to meet your past self," Jadzia said, "and be reminded of your time as a drone. I can empathize with that."

Janeway sighed. "I don't think we have much of a choice, but before we go you're going to tell me exactly why the Borg are using one of my cargo bays."

Janeway listened as Seven told her in broad strokes about the Borg conflict with Species 8472, Janeway's alliance with them, and how Seven was the lone drone to survive when the first officer vented the cargo bay into space after Janeway was briefly incapacitated. Janeway took note that Seven took great care not to say the name of the first officer, leading her to wonder if something bad was going to happen to Cavit in the future.

"I see," Janeway said. "I'm starting to question my future self's judgement here."

"Sounds to me like you, or rather future you, made the right call, Captain," Jadzia said. "Assuming Seven of Nine here isn't exaggerating, Species 8472 was xenophobic, aggressive, able to destroy whole planets with just a small fleet… The Borg were definitely the lesser evil there."

"I suppose I shouldn't judge," Janeway said, "seeing as I wasn't there. Or won't be there. Whatever, let's just go to the cargo bay and see if we can get what we need. Just be ready to run if we need to."

The trio made their way quickly to cargo bay 2, passing the unconscious crewmembers from earlier once more before heading down a different corridor. Once inside, Janeway nearly gulped at the site of one of her cargo bays looking more like the inside of a Borg cube.

"What has happened to this vessel?" a drone said, approaching them while all the others continued about their business as if three Starfleet officers hadn't just wandered in.  
The drone looked very familiar, as she looked at Seven.

"You are me, but no longer a drone. Explain."

"This is going to get confusing," Seven said, looking uncomfortably at the Borg drone she used to be.

Seven, or rather the Seven from the future, straightened her uniform and proceeded to explain the situation in a very clipped, Borg-like manner to her past self. Janeway feared that past-Seven might attempt to assimilate them, but instead she went to a Borg computer console and began entering information.

"Your plan is sufficient," past-Seven said, "though you will need to create a powerful field once the conduits are stored throughout the vessel."

"We'd need to get to engineering," future-Seven said. "And that will mean a direct fight with the Kazon."

"That should not be difficult," past-Seven said. Janeway thought for a moment that the Borg drone sounded smug, but that couldn't possibly be right.

"Once it is done, it will force _Voyager_ back into temporal sync," past-Seven said.

"Temporal sync with when?" Jadzia said.

Future-Seven manipulated a few controls herself. "It'll essentially be a hard reset, to the moment of the original chronokinetic surge. I'll have six to seven seconds to try and counteract the warp core reaction."

"That's not a lot of time," Janeway said.

"I can do it," Future Seven said, sounding more certain than arrogant.

 _Hopefully she's not letting her desire to see her family again cloud her judgement_ , Janeway thought.

"Your plan is inefficient," past-Seven said. "There are only three of you to place the conduits around the ship. If you would allow us to assimilate you into a small collective, you could assimilate others and complete the task more quickly."

"No," future-Seven said forcefully.

Past-Seven looked at her future self quizzically, but did not press the issue.

"We will begin construction of the conduits immediately," past-Seven said. "You will obtain more of the chroniton serum in order to carry them through the ship."  
Janeway didn't like being ordered around, but she also didn't like the idea of being assimilated, so she took the high road.

"We're on it." She motioned for future-Seven and Jadzia to follow her out of the cargo bay.

"We'll need to head to sick bay then," Seven said. She sighed. "I must inform you that Doctor Fitzgerald will not be the one you meet when you get there, Captain."  
"I assumed as much," Janeway said. "Jeff's good, but there's nothing in his record to indicate he's that good. Who's my CMO in your timeline?"

"The Emergency Medical Hologram," Seven said.

"Wait, what?" Janeway said.

* * *

"I've replicated these belts to resist the effects of the temporal barriers, just like the hyposprays," The Doctor said, as Captain Janeway and Lieutenant Dax adjusted theirs.

"Anything you attach to them should be able to pass through the barriers with you with no problem."

"You know," Jadzia said, "it's a shame DS9 isn't equipped to handle an EMH. I had no idea you were so versatile."

The Doctor beamed with pride at the compliment. "Normally we're not. Most of the Mark I's ended up doing menial work-"

"Doctor?" Seven said, "Temporal Prime Directive, remember?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Before today, Seven, I don't recall you ever caring about that. Besides, you said yourself this plan would reset everything, so the Captain here wouldn't know about the Delta Quadrant or-"

"Delta Quadrant?" Janeway said.

The Doctor winced. He looked back and forth between a shocked Janeway, and an annoyed Seven of Nine.

"Ooh, the plot thickens," Jadzia said.

"I figured there had to be a reason why we don't have a real doctor in your timeline, Seven," Janeway said.

"Now just a minute-" The Doctor said defensively.

"But what's this about the Delta Quadrant?"

"I'll explain along the way," Seven said to Janeway, though she was glowering at The Doctor the whole time, as if to say "This is all your fault."

"I thought we were going to split up," Jadzia said. "Wouldn't that get this done faster?"

"Faster, yes," The Doctor said. "But remember Lieutenant Dax, most people on this ship either don't know you at all, or know you as being on DS9. Going by yourself could lead to questions at best, being tagged as an intruder at worst. That would definitely slow you down."

"He's right, Lieutenant," Janeway said. "It may take longer, but it's for the best. Seven knows what we might be running into out there, and if we end up in the past again I'm the only one who can vouch for her." Janeway finished clipping her belt. "Let's get back to cargo bay 2, get those conduits, and get to work."

* * *

Seven opened a panel and began installing one of the conduits, Captain Janeway helping her, while Jadzia worked alone on another one at the end of the corridor.

"Can I ask you something?" Janeway said.

"Of course, Captain," Seven said.

"I started off with a crew of 153," Janeway said. "I already know I lost my doctor, and my nurses apparently. I'm guessing I lose my first officer the way you dance around using any names when the subject comes up. When we get pulled into the Delta Quadrant by this, Caretaker, you called him?"

"That is correct," Seven said, feeling uncomfortable with where this was going. She'd had to tell the Captain that _Voyager_ was in the Delta Quadrant, no thanks to The Doctor, but she'd kept details as spare as she felt she could get away with, and place strong emphasis on the fact that _Voyager_ was in regular contact with Starfleet now and that a combined thirty years of travel time had been shaved off the journey, with hope for more ever present.

"How many people do I lose?"

Seven sighed. "Many Starfleet vessels suffer casualties," she said. "But you'll gain new crewmembers as well."

"Like you," Janeway said.

"Like me," Seven said. Janeway opened her mouth to say more, but a loud buzzing noise distracted her. Seven did not recognize the noise, but when she turned around and saw its source, she recognized it all too well from the ship's logs.

"Run!" Seven shouted as the macrovirus flew towards them.

"What the hell is that?" Jadzia said, nearly stumbling as she rushed to her feet. Seven didn't say anything until they passed through a temporal barrier, the macrovirus disappearing as it tried to follow.

"A macrovirus," Seven said. "They infected the ship some time before I joined the crew. I never saw one in person before though. It is exactly as disturbing as Sam described them to me."

"Had I not just run away from one," Jadzia said, "I would say you were being ridiculous."

"I can understand that," Seven said. "Though really, that could apply to any number of phenomena I've encountered both as a Borg drone and as a crew member of _Voyager_."

"It sounds to me like it's one disaster after another on this ship," Janeway said, shaking her head.

"It can seem like that at times," Seven admitted, "but you and your crew will get the opportunity to study things no Alpha Quadrant species had ever seen before. If nothing else, consider the countless lives you likely saved by stopping Species 8472 from continuing their incursions from fluidic space. Incursions that were the Borg's fault, I might add."

"I'm not sure having to clean up the Borg's mess is something to be proud of," Janeway said. "We're not done with this conversation, I still want to know what happens to my crew. But we should keep going. The next junction is in holodeck 1."

* * *

"I want a copy of that program," Jadzia said, smiling as the three them left the holodeck and went back to being in full color. "Captain Proton, right?"

"Yes," Seven said, "it's one of Tom's programs, modelled on early twentieth-century earth science fiction."

"Tom?" Captain Janeway said. "As in Tom Paris?"

Seven nodded.

"What does he end up doing on the ship once we're stranded?" Janeway said.

Seven seemed reluctant to answer. Jadzia was frankly getting annoyed at the constant tension there seemed to be between these two, so she stepped between them to cut off the conversation.

"Where is the next location for the conduits?" she said.

"Transporter room 3," Seven said.

"Remember, send me a copy of that program," Jadzia said. "I especially liked the boxy robot."

"You mean the one that grabbed me?" Janeway said. "If you ask me Mister Paris's tastes are not exactly sophisticated."

"Better a boxy robot than annoying British children," Jadzia heard Seven mutter under her breath.

"What was that, Ensign?" Janeway said, narrowing her eyes.

"Nothing, Captain," Seven said, clearing her throat and leading the way to the transporter room. When they got there, Seven was initially relieved to see B'Elanna Torres and Lieutenant Ayala, but once she registered their Maquis garb, and their angry looks at Captain Janeway, that relief quickly vanished.

"What the hell's going on? Why can't we contact the bridge?" B'Elanna said to Janeway.

"You'll have to ask her," Janeway said, pointing a thumb at Seven.

"Since when do Starfleet captains let ensigns tell them what to do?" B'Elanna said, looking like she was ready to hit somebody.

"Captain, meet your future chief engineer," Seven said as she removed the necessary panel.

"What?" both Janeway and B'Elanna said at the same time.

"There's a temporal anomaly affecting the ship, B'Elanna" Seven continued.

"Do I know you?" B'Elanna said.

"Not yet," Seven said.

"This is ridiculous," B'Elanna said.

"It's been that kind of day," Janeway said. "Seven, care to explain to me why I have Maquis in my transporter room?"

"Are you serious?!" B'Elanna shouted. "You're the reason we're stranded here!"

"If we could just all calm down-" Jadzia said,.

"Shut it, Starfleet!" B'Elanna said.

"Hold on," Janeway said. "Seven, I want an honest answer from you. Is she right? Am I the reason _Voyager_ ends up in the Delta Quadrant?"

"The Caretaker is the reason you're here," Seven said. "You and the Maquis. The Caretaker also took the ship Lieutenant Commander Tuvok was embedded on."

"Seven, enough dancing around the issue," Janeway said. "I want to know how many people I lose after _Voyager_ leaves DS9, and we are not leaving this room until you tell me."

"My god, you're actually telling the truth," B'Elanna said to Janeway. "That means you can fix this. You don't have to destroy the array-"

"Once we've repaired the damage," Seven said, cutting B'Elanna off, "time will reset to where I am, seven years in your future. I'm sorry B'Elanna, but you're going to be in the Delta Quadrant for a little while longer."

"Don't talk to me like we're friends."

"We are friends," Seven said. "In my timeline anyway. For instance, I don't hold it against it you that you decided to simulate a near death experience because you believed it was the only way to save your mother's soul from the Barge of the Dead the day before my wedding."

B'Elanna was suddenly speechless, sharing glances with Ayala and the other two Maquis in the transporter room.

"That's clever," Jadzia said to B'Elanna. "I could see Kang trying to pull a trick like that."

"The conduit is in place," Seven said. "We should continue."

"You still haven't answered my question," Janeway said.

"Captain," Seven said, "I don't see how the knowledge would be of any use to you, given that once we've undone the effects of the anomaly you won't remember any of this anyway. Your guilt over your decision to destroy the Caretaker's array is irrelevant."

"Now you're talking like a Borg," Janeway said, glowering. "I thought you were human now."

"I am both," Seven said.

"Okay, now I'm really confused," Ayala said.

"Ssh," B'Elanna said.

"If you absolutely must now," Seven said, "over one dozen _Voyager_ crewmembers are killed by the wave the Caretaker used to bring you to the array. The Maquis vessel that was brought here was destroyed during a battle with the Kazon."

"The people currently occupying engineering in one of the other timelines?" Janeway said.

"Wait," B'Elanna said, "there's Kazon on the ship? Now?"

"Yes and no," Seven said.

"Let her finish," Janeway said. "So I assume the Maquis survivors end up integrating into the crew?"

"Correct," Seven said. "As I said, B'Elanna Torres is your chief engineer. Lieutenant Ayala returns to security division, which he was in before joining the Maquis." Seven sighed.

"And, as you may have guessed, your first officer was among those killed. Chakotay takes his place."

Janeway's jaw dropped. She turned to look at Jadzia. "Do you think it would be possible to reset the anomaly so that I can bring _Voyager_ back to my time? To prevent-"

"Wait, hang on," B'Elanna said. "Even if that's possible, you realize that means you'd be leaving my people stuck in the Delta Quadrant right? Are you really that damn selfish? Destroying the array was bad enough but-"

"I understand your desire to protect your crew," Seven said, "and that the knowledge I've given you is disheartening. The loss of Cavit, Stadi, Fitzgerald and the others is not something you've gotten over, not even in my time. But what about Tuvok? Your oldest friend, a man whose youngest daughter you attended the birth of? You'd be abandoning him."

"How dare-"

"And what about Species 8472? Without your intervention they would present a threat to the entire galaxy. You suffer losses over the next seven years that weigh heavily on you, I know this all too well. But you will save thousands upon thousands of lives as well. Including mine. Including my adopted son's."

"If I may interject here-" Jadzia said.

"Shut it, Lieutenant," Janeway said.

"With all due respect, ma'am, no. This argument is moot anyway. I've gone over the data, same as you. When we repair the damage and initiate the energy surge, _Voyager_ will reset to the time of the chronokinetic impact. Seven years from my and your time, Captain. I'm sorry, but Ensign Hansen is right."

The transporter room was uncomfortably quiet for less than a minute, though Seven was certain that it felt longer for everyone else.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" B'Elanna said. "We're fighters," she added, looking at Ayala and the other two Maquis. "If you need engineering to do this, and it's in the hands of the Kazon, well, let's just say I may not like Starfleet very much, but there's no love lost with the Kazon either."

Janeway sadly nodded. "Yeah," she said softly. "That's probably not a bad idea. We can rig up some phaser rifles with the serum."

"Agreed" Seven said. "We'll get to that once we've installed the remainder of the conduits."

Janeway sighed. "I suppose there's little point in second guessing a decision I haven't made yet. I just hope that whatever I did to strand us all out here was truly worth it."

* * *

Janeway had been told that her formerly private dining quarters had been turned into a mess hall by an alien she would meet in the Delta Quadrant named Neelix, so she was prepared to see other people there. What she was not prepared for was seeing it being used a triage. She saw numerous wounded crew members, all of them being looked over by Tom Paris, Samantha Wildman, and a crewman she didn't recognize.

When Samantha turned to look in their direction, she was surprised to see unrepressed joy on her face.

"Annie!" she yelled, running up to and throwing her arms around Seven of Nine. "Where have you been? When you didn't show up in sickbay after B'Elanna called for the emergency beam out I was so scared."

Seven took Sam's hands in hers and kissed them.

"I'm fine. It's complicated."

Sam looked over Seven's shoulder at Janeway and Jadzia, and frowned.

"Honey," Samantha said, "why is DS9's science officer standing behind you? More importantly, how?"

"Time travel, hon," Seven said with a sigh.

Sam winced. "Ouch. Say no more. I was really hoping we'd never have to deal with time travel again. Like, ever."

"Don't worry," Seven said, "at least there aren't any anti-Vulcan bigots to deal with this time."

Janeway wondered what the hell Seven and Samantha were talking about. She glanced at Jadzia who smiled as she watched the couple talking.

"Oh, they are just adorable," Jadzia said, seemingly to no one. Janeway sighed, and looked around the room, only to gasp when she saw Tuvok lying on one of the cots, looking badly burned.

She went over to him.

"Captain," Tuvok said through labored breaths, "I am.. relieved that you are here." He raised his hand, and Janeway took it. "I want you to know, it has been an honor to serve with you, and to be your friend."

Tuvok started convulsing.

"I need help over here!" Janeway shouted. The blue shirted crewmen who has been helping Tom and Samantha rushed over, Seven and Samantha close behind him.

"James, is there anything we can do for him?" Sam said.

"Not without more anti-radiation meds, but with comms down I can't get enough up here in time," the blue shirt, James, said.

"Live long, and prosper," Tuvok said, wincing as he made the Vulcan salute, before his eyes closed, and he stopped breathing.

A steady noise came out of James' tricorder, and he sighed.

"I'm sorry, Captain," he said.

"Oh no," Sam muttered, leaning on Seven.

"You did what you could, Mister Morrow," Seven said.

"If I'd had more medical training maybe I could've done more," James said.

"Sorry to interrupt," Jadzia said, "but I got the conduit installed. It was in the galley, like Seven said."

"We should go," Seven said. "Sam, keep doing what you can for the wounded. If what the Captain, Lieutenant Dax and I are doing works, everyone here will be fine."

"I hope so," Sam said. She kissed Seven on the lips. "Just stay safe."

"I will," Seven said. She and Jadzia headed for the opposite exit, while Janeway just stared at her friend's body.

"Captain?" Seven said. "I'm sorry, but we need to keep moving."

"Right," Janeway said. She slowly followed Seven and Jadzia into the turbolift.

"Captain, I-" Seven started to say.

"Save it," Janeway said grimly. "You've already made it clear I can't keep _Voyager_ out of the Delta Quadrant, and I have to accept that. But I don't have to accept having watched my best friend die. When we do this rest, you make damn sure you use that six to seven seconds well."

"Yes, Captain," Seven said.

"That James Morrow," Janeway said. "I don't recall his name being on the list of Maquis personnel Tuvok sent us before he disappeared in the Badlands. Where did we get him?"

"He's one of the survivors of the U.S.S. _Equinox_ ," Seven said. "It's a long story."

"Even if it wasn't," Janeway said, "I think I'm tired of details. I know too much already, and I can only blame myself for forcing you to tell me. From here on out, just the bare minimum, please."

"Understood," Seven said. "As for what's next, we'll need a plan to retake engineering. The conduit in the mess hall was the last one we needed to place."

"I think I have one," Janeway said. "But we'll need more of that serum first."

"How much?" Seven said.

Janeway thought about it for a moment, and almost surprised herself when the mental images of just who she'd be bringing with her came to mind. Despite herself, she smiled.

"Oh, I think I like where this is going," Jadzia said.

* * *

 _Why the hell did I agree to be the bait?_ Seven thought as she found herself once again looking at Seska, and surrounded by armed Kazon. She did exactly as Captain Janeway had suggested, and told Seska the truth about the conduits and the anomaly, selectively leaving out certain details also per instructions.

"So you see," Seven said, "it's in both our interests to work together."

"Hmm. I agree," Seska said. "Let her go."

"You believe her?" one of the Kazon said.

"You ran the sensor scans yourself," Seska said. "You saw the same chroniton signatures I did. I must admit, Ensign Seven of Nine, that your solution is quite ingenious."

"I'm glad you are cooperating," Seven said, waiting for the metaphorical other shoe to drop.

"Oh, I believe in cooperation, so long as it benefits me," Seska said. "As I said, your plan was ingenious, but it needs a slight modification. Step away from the console."

"You know," Seven said, "just once you could try not betraying someone."

"This isn't betrayal, it's a modification, like I said. I will reset the timeline as intended, but I believe I can set it so that it ends up here, and the Kazon and I will still have the ship." Seska motioned to the two Kazon behind her, who raised their weapons at Seven.

"That is of course," she continued, "once we get out of you just how Janeway and her crew take back the ship."

Seven decided to indulge in the kind of smile she normally reserved for her family, but with a slight modification of her own; smugness. "In the original timeline, or right now?"

"What?" Seska said.

"Now," Seven said. At that, Jadzia Dax and Ayala from the timeline in the transporter room appeared from the other side of a temporal barrier, rushing the two Kazon nearest Seven, catching them off-guard and tackling them easily before managing to wrestle their guns away from them. The other Kazon tried to rush their position but were hit with phaser rifle fire from the upper balcony by Captain Janeway and a still-Maquis garb clad B'Elanna Torres.

"Kill them!" Seska scream as Seven went back to the console and began preparing for the pulse. More phaser fire came as a pair of Kazon who about to get a bead on Seven were taken out by grown-up Naomi and Icheb.

The rest of the Kazon were quickly neutralized by the other two Maquis from the transporter room, but not before Seska was able to grab both a fallen Kazon rifle and Seven of Nine.

 _Dammit, how did I let her get the drop on me?_ Seven thought.

Seska backed towards the main exit from engineering. Seven knew what, or rather who, was coming from that direction so decided not to struggle.

"I want you to replicate more of your serum, Captain," Seska said. "You will use it on me and my people so we can have access to the rest of your ship."

"That's not going to happen," Janeway said.

"Then poor baby Naomi is going to have to live with only one mom," Seska said.

"Really?" Seven said. "That's the best comeback you could think of?"

Before Seska could reply, Seven felt Seska's grip release as she yelled in panic. Seven turned and saw her past-self easily disable Seska, dropping the Kazon weapon to the floor. Seska tried to fight back, but past-Seven showed no signs of difficulty in holding her at bay.

"Resistance is futile," Seven said with a smirk. Her past-self tilted her head in apparent confusion, but said nothing.

"Damn, Seska," B'Elanna said, "your plan must really be shit if even the Borg think it's a bad idea."

Adult Naomi walked up to the restrained Seska, and punched her.

"That's for leaving me and Mom to die when I was a baby," she said.

"Okay," Janeway said, "no need for further violence. Secure her and the rest of the Kazon. All the conduits are in place. Seven- er, Ensign Hansen, are you ready?"

"I am. Thank you, Captain."

"Make it worth it," Janeway said. "Everyone, once the Kazon are taken care of get back to your timeline, ASAP."

Jadzia walked over to Seven, and offered her hand to shake. "Remember, I want a copy of your report on this mission. Don't leave out anything. I wish I could say I can't wait to read, but, well…"

"I will," Seven said. "I promise."

"If you make it back to the Alpha Quadrant soon enough, stop by DS9 sometime. I'll treat you and your wife to a couple of raktajinos," Jadzia said before following B'Elanna and the others back through the temporal barriers.

Janeway was the last to go, walking over to Seven.

"One last question," she said, "Is Samantha the only reason you stayed? I imagine at some point, at least at first, you must've wanted to go back to the Borg. It had to have been difficult for you to transition from part of a collective to an individual."

"It was," Seven said, "and while I do still believe you made some mistakes in how you handled it at first, I do believe I would've stayed if Samantha hadn't been there. It just probably would've taken longer for me to fit in."

Janeway nodded. "I can see that. Thank you, Seven. Good luck."

Janeway shook Seven's hand before going through the temporal barrier. Seven was now alone, except for some dead and unconscious Kazon, and a cuffed and gagged Seska, the gag having been B'Elanna's idea.

Seven waited for the others to have ample time to return to their timelines, and initiated the pulse. The warp core began glowing, the glow intensifying to the point where Seven was almost blinded, but within seconds she saw her surroundings change.

"Seven, how'd you get here so fast?" B'Elanna said.

"No time. Reroute power to the deflector," Seven said, "and set the polarity to the frequency I'm inputting."

"Why?" B'Elanna said.

"I'll explain later," Seven said, "after we save the ship."

Inside, Seven counted down the remaining seconds she had before she would find out whether or not this worked. Three, two, one…

The ship shuddered, but the warp core did not spark, and there was no leak that require engineering to be evacuated. Seven let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, and leaned back against a pillar.

"The deflector dish is burned out," B'Elanna said, but otherwise we're fine. That energy burst from the anomaly could've really hurt us. How did you- wait, never mind, I think I can guess." She shook her head. "Stable time loop?"

"Nope," Seven said. "I'm not sure how to classify it really. I don't think DTI has a page in the handbook for what I went through today."

B'Elanna snorted. "I bet they do, but whatever it was you saved us from, thanks."

"You're quite welcome," Seven said.

* * *

Ezri Dax read the PADD she'd been handed this morning with the message from _Voyager_. She'd been surprised to receive it, as no one she knew was on that vessel, nor were any acquaintances of Jadzia's.

She heard the sound of the chair at the other end of her table in the replimat and looked up to see Julian Bashir taking a seat.

"Sorry I'm late," he said. "Turns out the Breen delegation is going to arrive earlier than planned, so I needed to make sure the environmental controls in their guest quarters were in place so they wouldn't have to wear their helmets the whole time."

"Okay," Ezri said, going back to reading.

"What's that?" Julian asked.

"A letter from Seven of Nine," Ezri said.

"The Seven of Nine? From _Voyager_? I wasn't aware you knew her," Julian said.

"I didn't," Ezri said. "But apparently Jadzia did. In another timeline anyway."

Julian winced.

"Poor _Voyager_ ," he said. "Even all the way out in the Delta Quadrant they can't get away from all that time travel nonsense. I bet there are agents at Temporal Investigations just climbing over each other to be the ones who get to sit across from Captain Janeway all stone-faced and bureaucratic.

"So, what happened with Jadzia? I'm guessing there's a reason I never heard this story."

Ezri gave Julian the summary of what had happened to _Voyager_ , or at least as best she could understand it. Even after being aboard the station for nearly three years, people sometimes still seemed to forget that Ezri was not a scientist the way Jadzia had been. Having access to her knowledge was one thing. Being able to explain it in understandable terms was another thing entirely.

"...so before they 'reset' the ship, Jadzia made Seven of Nine promise to send her a detailed report on what happened since once it was all done, she would have no memory of it ever happening since technically it didn't."

"And so when the next communication window was open she sent the report here, not knowing what had happened to Jadzia. Have you sent a reply?"

"Not yet," Ezri said. "You'd think I'd know what to say, I am a counselor after all. I just don't know how to break it her. Seeing as it technically didn't happen for anyone except Seven of Nine I have no idea how well they got along during the mission, but still. I'd hate to be the one to disappoint her."

"Well, she's going to find out sooner or later," Julian said. "It's probably best that it comes from you. She can take some comfort in knowing that in a way she did keep her promise."

"That's a good way to look at it, Julian," Ezri said. "Thank you. The current window's already closed, but I've got thirty-one days to come up with something. As for the promise Jadzia made in the other timeline, I'm thinking we should keep it, if possible."

"A double-date between you and me, and Seven of Nine and Ensign Wildman? I don't see why not. Might be awkward though, I believe Wildman's ex-husband is a shop keep here on the Promenade."

"Oh, no, he went back to his homeworld months ago," Ezri said. "But far as I know they're all on good terms so even if he was here it wouldn't be an issue." Ezri looked down at her food, and realized she hadn't touched it the whole time she'd been reading Seven of Nine's report. "I'd better reheat this."

 **Chapter Six**

The ship shuddered a second time as Captain Janeway left her ready room and entered the bridge, the red alert lights already on, and the stars in the viewscreen shifting to indicate that Tom Paris had already started evasive maneuvers.

"Report," Janeway said as she moved towards her seat.

"A ship just de-cloaked off our port-stern," Tom said.

"Can you identify them?" Janeway said.

"They re-cloaked before I got the chance," Harry said.

The ship shuddered a third time.

"The energy signature of the weapon suggests a Klingon disruptor beam," Tuvok said.

"Are you sure?" Janeway said, looking incredulously as Tuvok.

"Continue evasive maneuvers," she said. "Hail them."

"No response," Tuvok said.

"They've de-cloaked," Harry said. "It's definitely a Klingon ship. An old one by the looks-"

The latest volley from the Klingon vessel hit _Voyager_ hard, the ship shaking more violently than the last few volleys.

"Not old enough that they can't hurt us apparently," Janeway said.

"Port shields are weakening," Tuvok said.

"It looks an old D7-class cruiser," Chakotay said, looking at the monitor in the arm of his chair. "They retired those decades ago. We can use a metaphasic scan to penetrate their cloak, easily."

"Do it," Janeway said.

"Bridge to astrometrics," Chakotay said, "initiate a metaphasic sweep."

"Aye sir," Megan Delaney's voice replied. After a few seconds she spoke again. "Got 'em. Transferring the data to tactical."

"I have them" Tuvok said.

"Fire phasers," Janeway said. The viewscreen switched to a rear view, the aft phaser banks firing at what at what would've seemed to be empty space had Janeway not known better. The first blast struck true, and the antiquated Klingon cruiser quickly became visible. A second and third blast hit.

"Their shields are down," Tuvok said.

"Hail them again," Janeway said. She didn't doubt for a second that the rest of the bridge crew was as curious as she was as to what an old Klingon ship was doing out in the Delta Quadrant. The age of the ship suggested the Caretaker had had nothing to do with this. Likely this was a ship that had come from the opposite direction. But why had a Klingon crew decided however many decades ago it was to head this way?

The face of the Klingon ship's commander appeared on the viewscreen.

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship _Voyager_. Stand down."

"We will not surrender to sworn enemies of the Klingon Empire," the Klingon Captain said.

 _Well, that gives me a vague idea of how long they've been out here_ , Janeway thought.

"The Federation and the Klingon Empire signed a peace treaty over eighty years ago," Janeway said. "A few... hiccups aside it's still in effect."

"You're lying," the Klingon Captain said.

"I'm not," Janeway said casually, "but even if I were, your ship is no match for mine. I suggest we discuss this."

"What is there to talk about?" the Klingon Captain shouted.

"The treaty for one thing," Janeway said. "You can have access to our database. You'll see it's the truth."

"Databases can be falsified."

"Fair enough. How about the fact that I have a Klingon serving aboard this ship?"

"Impossible."

"She's my Chief Engineer," Janeway said.

The Klingon Captain's brow furrowed, seeming unsure what to do with this new information.

"I will meet this chief engineer," he said.

"We'd be honored to have you as our guest, Captain…"

"Kohlar."

"I look forward to meeting you in person, Captain Kohlar," Janeway said.

The viewscreen cut off.

"So much for a 'you're welcome,'" Tom said. "Obviously I'll want to be there when he meets B'Elanna, Captain."

"Now, Tom, there will be security there, no need to be overprotective of her," Janeway said.

"What? No, not like that. I just mean it'll be hilarious to watch her kick his ass if he tries something," Tom said, smiling.

Janeway couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sure Mister Kohlar would not want to share that story with his crew. He wouldn't want to admit that he got beat up by a pregnant woman."

"Do you expect violence, Captain?" Tuvok said.

"Expect? Not really. But we should be prepared for it, just in case."

* * *

B'Elanna Torres looked down at her stomach as she rode the turbolift up to the bridge, where she'd then be going to the briefing room to meet with this Klingon Captain who had had the nerve to open fire on her ship right in the middle of a routine dilithium matrix realignment.

"Barely three months in and I'm already showing," she muttered. "I suppose I should be grateful that this is going to be relatively quick."

"I wonder if Samantha Wildman is at all jealous," Lieutenant Ayala, who was going to the meeting room with her, said. "She was pregnant for, what, a year?"

B'Elanna chuckled. "Just about. I guess you never know what you're going to get when you cross species like that."

"If I ever have kids," Ayala said, "I should look into the data on that, figure out what combination would be the fastest."

B'Elanna was prepared to lecture Ayala on how speciesist that sounded, but she saw his smirk and held back.

"That was a terrible joke," she said, but she was smiling in spite of herself.

The turbolift reached the bridge, and the two headed for the briefing room. When they entered, Kohlar, flanked by Captain Janeway and Tuvok stood up, and with visible shock on his face looked at her stomach.

 _Already with this?_ she thought.

"You are with child," Kohlar said.

Janeway gave her a look that showed she had no idea where this was coming from either. Tom Paris, seated on the opposite side of the table, tilted his head in confusion.

"Yeah," B'Elanna said. "So?"

"Did you conceive during the holy month of nay'Poq?"

"That's kinda personal isn't it?" Tom said.

B'Elanna decided to humor this man, more amused than insulted at his apparent fascination with her baby. She held up her hand to let Tom know that she had this.

"I have no idea," she said.

"It would have been fourteen or fifteen weeks ago," Kohlar said.

"Sounds about right, though I wonder why you think that's any of your business."

"I'm curious about that myself," Janeway said.

"I must return to my ship," Kohlar said suddenly.

"Aren't you interested in learning about the treaty?" Tuvok said.

"Here's a copy of the Khitomer Accords," Janeway said, handing Kohlar a PADD. He took it and glanced at it.

"Yes, fine, seems to be in order," Kohlar said after barely even glancing at it. "I must return to my vessel."

 _Why is he in such a hurry to get out of here?_ B'Elanna thought.

"Not until I have your assurance that you won't fire on my ship again," Janeway said.

Kohlar looked at B'Elanna's belly for a few seconds. B'Elanna and Ayala shared a look, her crewmate and fellow former Maquis fighter appearing to be as confused as she was. She looked at Tom, who didn't seem to know how to react to any of this.

"You have my word," Kohlar said, his voice dead serious, as if he was afraid he wouldn't be believed.

 _One minute he's shooting at us, now he's talking like he would be personally offended if we got blown up. What the hell is going on?_ B'Elanna thought.

Janeway nodded. She turned to Tuvok. "Escort Captain Kohlar back to the transporter room," she said.

"Aye, Captain," Tuvok said.

As soon as the two men were gone, Janeway looked at B'Elanna.

"Any idea what that was about?"

"Not a damn clue," B'Elanna said.

"Wanting to know when the baby was conceived," Tom said, "using the term 'holy month,' how quiet his tone got at the end of the meeting… If he were human, I'd think that he thinks our kid's the second coming of the Christian messiah."

"I don't know much about Earth religions, Tom," B'Elanna said. "You'll need to explain that one to me."

* * *

"It's the truth," Kohlar said to his crew, keeping his firm but not shouting. The last thing he needed right now was a fight. Most days he'd love a good brawl, it was a great way to relieve the tension of the long journey, but today was special.

"How can you be certain?" the ship's second-in command, T'Greth, said, skeptical.

"The scrolls say; 'You will find me after two warring houses make peace,'" Kohlar said, waving the PADD with the Khitomer Accords on them. "Our people and the Federation, our greatest enemy, are at peace."

"So the humans claim," T'Greth said. "These Accords may be a deception."

"The other signs are present," Kohlar said, smiling. "'You will know me, before I know the world,'" he added, quoting the scrolls once more.

"The child is unborn," one of the other crewmembers said, awe in his voice. "It does not know the world."

"You interpret the scrolls well," Kohlar said.

"We need to verify the evidence," T'Greth said authoritatively. Kohlar normally respected his second-in-command's skepticism but today it was terribly inconvenient.

"Your skepticism darkens my heart, T'Greth," Kohlar said, regretting insulting his friend in front of the rest of his command staff, but as much as he disliked humans, they had the perfect saying for such things; Desperate times call for desperate measures. "What evidence did our ancestors have when they began this journey? Nothing, but their faith."

Some of the other crew muttered to themselves. Kohlar could see he was already winning them over.

"Tell the others to prepare," Kohlar said, moving up to the step that his command chair rested on, making him taller than the rest of his crew. "The Day of Seperation has arrived!"

The rest of the crew on the bridge, including a visibly reluctant T'Greth, got to work.

* * *

An alert sound from his console grabbed Harry Kim's attention.

"Captain," he said, "the Klingon ship's warp core is going critical."

"How is that possible? Hail them," Janeway said.

Kohlar's face appeared on screen, his bridge's own alert lights own, consoles sparking in the background.

"I salute you, Captain," he said. "You did more damage to my vessel than my engineer thought."

 _He seems awfully mellow about this_ , Harry thought.

"We can send over a team to help you establish a containment field," Janeway said.

"There isn't time," Kohlar said, his voice lacking the urgency one would expect to hear from someone uttering that phrase. Harry checked his console, but calm or no, Kohlar wasn't lying.

"He's right," Harry said. "Their core's going to breach in less than thirty seconds."

"I'm requesting emergency transport," Kohlar said, not even flinching when a console near the back to the Klingon bridge exploded.

"Captain," Tuvok said quietly, but not so quietly that Harry couldn't hear him, which likely meant the Klingons could hear him too. "Their crew compliment is two-hundred and four."

Janeway sighed. "Erect force fields around the shuttle bay and transport them there," she said to Tuvok. To Kohlar, she said, "Prepare your crew for evacuation."

"Fifteen seconds to breach," Harry said.

"If our shields are still down when their core goes up…" Chakotay said.

"Go to warp as soon as the Klingons are aboard, don't wait for my order," Janeway said.

"Yes, ma'am," Tom said.

"Five, four, three…" Harry said.

"We have them," Tuvok said.

The stars on the viewscreen streaked as _Voyager_ moved away from the exploding Klingon cruiser. As they did so, Harry went over the scans of the Klingon ship from before it exploded, and thought he spotted something odd. He forwarded it to Tuvok's tactical console right away.

 _Something's off about this_ , Harry thought.

"Commander Tuvok," he said, "could you give these sensor logs a second look? I could be wrong, but it looks like Captain Kohlar was lying about why his warp core went critical."

"Why would he do that?" Chakotay said.

"I will review the logs," Tuvok said. "If you are correct , Lieutenant Kim, Mister Kohlar will have a number of questions to answer."

"That's putting it mildly," Janeway said.

* * *

Janeway stood as a security officer escorted Kohlar into her ready room. Tuvok stood by her side with a PADD.

"You spare us a dishonorable death," Kohlar said,

Tuvok wasted no time getting to the heart of the matter.

"Sensor logs indicate that the containment failure was not caused by our weapons," Tuvok said, handing the PADD to Kohlar.

"You activated a self-destruct sequence," Janeway said, glowering at the Klingon captain. "I want to know why."

"It was the only way to get us aboard _Voyager_ ," Kohlar said.

Janeway had not expected this much honesty that quickly. She also found it odd how completely non-defensive Kohlar was. He didn't try to deny it, but nor did he seem too apologetic about it. If this was some sort of plot to hijack _Voyager_ , so far it had been the most polite hijacking she'd ever seen.

"Why is that so important?" Janeway said.

"It's our sacred duty to be here," Kohlar said, sounding more like a preacher than a Klingon in that moment. She looked at Tuvok and could tell that he was as perplexed by all this as she was.

"I don't understand," Janeway said.

"More than a hundred years ago," Kohlar said, "my great-grandfather was part of a sect which believed that the Empire had lost its way. They discovered a sacred text. It told them to embark on a journey to a distant region of the galaxy."

"You've been travelling for four generations?" Janeway said.

"My people have always known the voyage would be long and difficult," Kohlar said, "but the Scrolls said we would be rewarded."

"How?" Janeway said, unable to suppress her curiosity. Religiosity was not an attribute she was used to seeing in Klingons, not even those who believed that Sto'Vo'Kor was real.

"We would find the kuvah'magh, the savior of our people, the one who will lead us to a new Empire. The Scrolls instruct us to follow them wherever they go."

"This is all quite fascinating, but what does any of this have to do with _Voyager_?" Janeway said.

"I believe the kuvah'magh is the unborn child of B'Elanna Torres," Kohlar said.

Janeway mentally kicked herself for not putting two and two together sooner. The way Kohlar has looked at B'Elanna when he first came aboard, his unusual behavior after seeing her pregnant, the questions about the conception…

 _She is not going to like that,_ Janeway thought, wondering how she was going to tell B'Elanna about all this.

"Tuvok," she said, "have the rest of the senior staff report to the briefing room."

* * *

"You have got to be joking," B'Elanna said, still having trouble processing what the Captain had just told her about Kohlar and his beliefs regarding her baby. She looked at Chakotay, Tuvok, Harry, and The Doctor, to see if they had as much trouble understanding all this as she did. "This has to be a joke."

"Considering they blew up their own ship," Tom said, "if it is a joke the Klingons are very dedicated to it."

"From what I can tell," Janeway said, "they take their beliefs very seriously."

"Couldn't they have just followed us?" Harry said.

"Apparently," Janeway said, "their sacred text told them to cast off the old ways as soon as they found this kuvah'magh."

"They saw their vessel as the last vestige of the corrupt Empire," Tuvok said.

"I was hoping our daughter would be special," Tom said, "but I never would've guessed she'd be a messiah."

"This isn't funny," B'Elanna said. "They might be dangerous. What if they want to hurt her?"

"To them your baby is sacred," Chakotay said. "It's unlikely they would want to hurt her. But we can always provide you a security detail if that would make you more comfortable."

"It would," B'Elanna said. "Especially since I'm guessing booting them off the ship isn't an option."

"Regardless of their intentions," Tuvok said, "the sheer number of Klingons aboard present a potential security threat. I would suggest we keep them confined to the shuttle bay until we can find a suitable home for them.

B'Elanna was inclined to agree, but Tom shook his head.

"That will bite us in the behind if we have to use a shuttle or the _Flyer_ at any point before then," Tom said.

"There are children and elderly among their number," The Doctor said. "We can't just lock them up."

"I agree," Janeway said. "Assign extra security to every deck, and make sure the Klingons know and abide by the rules. The bridge and engineering can remain off-limits. Cargo bay 2 as well, though in that case I'm more concerned about the Klingons accidentally harming themselves than us if they try to mess with the Borg equipment down there."

"I'm sure Seven of Nine would be grateful to not have her regeneration cycles interrupted as well," Chakotay said.

"Here's another big question," Harry said. "Where are they going to sleep?"

"We can have some of our people double up in quarters," The Doctor said. "Others can take in Klingon roommates as well if they're willing. Also, there are some empty quarters as well that we haven't been using since, well… Oh, and there are of course the extra quarters we have on hand anyway for occasions such as evacuations of other ships, or for diplomatic entourages. It will still be cramped, but I believe we can manage."

"I'm putting you charge of the arrangements then, Doctor," Janeway said.

B'Elanna sighed. She still was having trouble accepting what she was hearing.

"I know this is going to be a pain in the butt," Janeway continued, "but until another option presents itself, we'll do what we can to make them comfortable. Dismissed."

Everyone else started getting up, except for B'Elanna who just stared at the table.

"You okay, B'Elanna?" Tom said.

"Not really," B'Elanna said, "but unless we get lucky enough to stumble across an abandoned ship Kohlar and his little cult can use I'm going to have to get used to this. I would suggest just dropping them off on the next M-class planet we find, but something tells me these people wouldn't want to be separated from their chosen one."

Tom gently squeezed her shoulder.

"I get that this is weird for you," he said. "I'm a little worried to. But I'm sure everything will turn out fine. After all we've been through these past six years, an obscure Klingon religious sect doesn't seem like that big of a deal."

"Yeah, you say that now," B'Elanna said, "but don't get complacent. We've survived the Borg, Species 8472, the Hirogen, etcetera. But that just means we have to be more aware of the smaller threats. With our luck it would be someone who doesn't even mean to hurt us who ends up doing us in the way the people who've wanted to couldn't."

B'Elanna let Tom help her stand up even though she didn't really need that kind of assistance. Not yet anyway. Her stomach wasn't that far out. But she knew it made him feel more useful.

* * *

"Well, all it took was two-hundred Klingons coming aboard," Samantha said as she maneuvered her bed into place near Seven's alcove, "but we're finally properly moving in together."

Seven almost laughed.

"At least we'll have some privacy thanks to the adjustable partitions," Seven said. "I doubt Naomi and Icheb will like having their beds out in the open."

"Well, there's only so many panels," Samantha said. "Besides, it won't be that different from when we were using my quarters. We can still send the kids to the holodeck if we need some alone time." Samantha added a wink.

Seven smiled as she shook her head.

"You do realize they know full well what we're doing when we ask them to leave us alone," Seven said.

"Definitely," Sam said, "but as long as they don't ask for details, I'm good. I'm perfectly willing to have 'the talk' with both of them, they just don't need to know the specifics about you and me."

"A wise course of action," Seven said, as she finished getting Naomi's bed in place and started re-assembling her table and cabinet.

"Speaking of our kids," Sam said, "are Icheb and Naomi spending any time with the Klingon children yet?"

"No," Seven said. "Icheb believes it would be best to wait until the situation with the quarters are in order, and Naomi agreed."

"And you?"

"Icheb's thought process is a logical one," Seven said. "I have not experienced moving homes on quite the scale the Klingons are right now, but I imagine it must require an adjustment period."

"Makes sense," Sam said.

Seven watched Sam perform her tasks, and wondered if now would be a good time to bring up a topic she'd been thinking about of late, ever since B'Elanna's pregnancy had been made common knowledge aboard _Voyager_.

She started to say something, but then held back. She needed to speak with The Doctor first. She needed to be sure that what she was thinking of was even plausible before bringing it up with Samantha.

"Oh, hey, Annie," Sam said, "I just realized, don't you have a bridge shift today?"

"I do," Seven said, "but it's not for another hour. I believe I can accomplish at least one of the tasks I am currently focusing on before I need to leave."

* * *

Captain Janeway walked into the mess hall, not surprised that it was more crowded than usual, but pleased that so far everything seemed to be going so well. As far as she could tell, the Klingons were doing a good job of adjusting to their new situation. She imagined their faith played a role in that, though wondered if that would hold forever.

"Captain," Neelix said, smiling as he walked over to her with a bowl of Klingon food, "You must try the gagh." Janeway chuckled, glad that Neelix was proud of his ability to recreate Klingon cuisine with limited resources.

"I'll pass, thank you," she said. "I'm glad to see you're getting into the spirit of things."

"Well," Neelix said, "I've been fascinated with Klingon culture ever since I first read about them. I've asked B'Elanna to talk with me about, maybe teach me something that the books just can't, but she made it clear she wasn't interested in having that conversation. I look at this as a learning opportunity."

"Thief!" Janeway heard one of the Klingons yell. She looked over and saw a female Klingon grab the collar of the male sitting across from her. "Touch my food again and I'll kill you!"

"Okay everyone, let's calm down," Harry Kim said. Janeway wondered if she'd missed him when she walked in, or if he had come in after her, but he and Lieutenant Ayala were positioning themselves to intervene if the two Klingons came to blows.

"He took gagh from my plate," the Klingon female said, before lunging at the male. Harry quickly got in between the two, and grabbed the female by the shoulders holding her back.

"That's enough," he said.

The Klingon female at first looked like she was getting ready to strike Harry, but then she got a different look on her face; arousal. This actually made Janeway more worried.

"You have a fiery spirit," the Klingon female said. "You will make a worthy mate."

"Oh dear," Neelix said.

"We should probably do something," Janeway said.

"Like what?"

"I'll get back to you on that."

* * *

B'Elanna Torres was dragging out her work as long as she could get away with, but she knew there was only so slow she could get before her engineering team would figure it out. She didn't want to admit that she was nervous to walk the halls, but it wasn't her life she was in fear for. She simply did not want to deal with the reverent stares of the Klingons. Or rather, the staring at her belly. The more she thought about the idea of her child being a messiah, the less she liked it.

"Paris to Torres," Tom's voice said over the comm.

"I'm almost finished," she said in reply.

"You said the same thing over an hour ago," Tom said. "C'mon, you need your dinner, then your sleep."

"Fine," B'Elanna said, finally surrendering more to her own hunger and sleepiness than to her husband. "I'll be there in a minute."

She picked up a handful of PADDs and handed them out to the rest of the engineering staff.

"Have Gilmore take a look at the replicators," she said, heading for the door as she walked. "They've already gone down once today."

"Yes, ma'am," one of the ensigns said. The fact that she couldn't remember his name right off the top of her head only further cemented how tired she really was.

"Alright," she said to the security guard assigned to follow her. She made it to the door, and nearly walked face first into a crowd of about half a dozen Klingons. One them gasped when he saw her.

"It's her," he said, and B'Elanna was afraid he was going to start genuflecting right there in the corridor. The others began chattering. She quietly stepped back into engineering until the door closed.

"On second thought," she said to her guard, "I'll take the shortcut." She walked over to a nearby console, and initiated a site-to-site transport, materializing just as Tom was putting out the silverware.

"When you said 'be there in a minute' you weren't kidding," Tom said.

"A group of Klingons ambushed me outside engineering," B'Elanna said. "I decided transporting myself would be easier than running the gauntlet of the devout." She went over to the couch and sat down, groaning at her sore back. "I'm starting to feel like a zoo animal for everyone to stare at."

"Well, at least you have a handsome cage mate," Tom said.

"How much longer do you think they're going to be onboard?" B'Elanna asked.

"I thought you'd be glad to have other Klingons around," Tom said.

B'Elanna scoffed, but Tom continued.

"You've always told me how uncomfortable it is being the only one."

"I guess I should be careful what I wish for," B'Elanna said.

"Maybe you should talk to some of them," Tom said. "Give them a chance."

"You can't be ser-"

The door chime cut B'Elanna off.

"Enter," Tom said. B'Elanna wished he'd asked who it was first, even if there was a guard posted outside. She was surprised to see Captain Janeway enter. Tom started to help her to her feet so they could both stand at attention, but Janeway motioned for them to stay seated.

"Sorry to bother you, B'Elanna " she said, "but I need your help. Ten of the Klingons have started a hunger strike. They say they won't eat until you meet with their Council of Elders."

"That's ridiculous," B'Elanna said, rolling her eyes and very badly wishing she could be anywhere else right now.

"Their faith is obviously very important to them," Janeway said. "Just talk to them. Hear what they have to say. I'd rather not have people starve to death on my ship."

"You can't just force feed them?" Tom said.

"That would be against the law, Lieutenant," Janeway said.

"They think I'm something I'm not," B'Elanna said. "I don't want to feed their delusions."

Tom sighed. "We're going to be with these guys for a while. We can't avoid them forever."

"I can try," B'Elanna said.

"Would it make you feel any better if I went with you?" Tom said.

B'Elanna put her hand on her forehead, feeling a stress headache coming on.

"Fine," she said, her tone making the 'but I don't have to like it' implicit.

* * *

Tom heard the chanting as soon as he entered the cargo bay 1.

"mobaR, DoH'lo maj, Qo-vuh'makh," they kept chanting over and over again, eyes closed, around an open flame. Tom wondered if they'd gotten permission for the makeshift camp fire, or if they had found a way around the fire suppression systems. B'Elanna let out a heavy sigh, and stood there, waiting for them to acknowledge her presence. Tom looked at her, at Captain Janeway, and back at the two security officers behind them. Even with all of them there, and none of the Klingons armed, he still felt nervous. And if he was nervous, he couldn't begin to imagine how B'Elanna must feel.

One of the Klingons stood up and turned around. It was Kohlar, wearing an ornate robe over his standard Klingon uniform.

"You honor us with your presence," Kohlar said.

"Look at her ridges," one of the other Klingons, an older one, said, finally looking in their direction as well. He sounded angry. Tom took a step closer to B'Elanna, ready to step in if things went sideways.

"Morak was right," the older Klingon said. "Your blood is not pure."

"No," B'Elanna said. Tom wondered if this meant she was off the hook for all the religious reverence she'd been getting. She certainly sounded like it to his ear. "My father is human."

The rest of the Klingon began murmuring to each other, many of them sounding angry.

"Couldn't you see this for yourself?" the older Klingon said to Kohlar.

"Yes, T'Greth, but-"

T'Greth cut Kohlar off. "Why didn't you tell us?!"

"It wasn't important," Kohlar said.

"Not important?" T'Greth said, sounding offended. Tom was less worried for B'Elanna's safety right now than he was that a small scale holy war was going to break out between T"Greth and Kohlar.

"We destroyed our ship because you said she was the mother of the kuvah'magh!" T'Greth said.

Kohlar took a step forward towards T'Greth, an apparent show of dominance, and yelled at him.

"Show me where it's written that the kuvah'magh must have pure Klingon blood!"

"The prophecy wouldn't lead us to a _mongrel_ child," T'Greth yelled, turning towards B'Elanna as he said the word 'mongrel.' B'Elanna seemed to take it all in stride, but now Tom was angry.

"Hey," he said, "take it easy." Tom said as he moved to stand right next to B'Elanna.

"Tom, what're you doing?" B'Elanna whispered.

"Who are you? T'Greth said.

"The father of that 'mongrel' child," Tom said.

"More human blood," T'Greth said in an insulting tone. He turned back to look at Kohlar, disgust on his face. "Your kuvah'magh isn't even half-Klingon."

"I've spent half my life interpreting the scrolls," Kohlar said. Tom had to admit he was impressed with the Klingon captain's composure.

 _He's actually more calm than I am_ , Tom thought. _I'm about ready to punch T'Greth if he insults my unborn daughter again_.

"I say that all the signs of the prophecy are here," Kohlar continued.

"Liar," T'Greth said, sounding as sad as he was angry. Tom felt a tinge of sympathy for him, even if he had just insulted his wife and child right in front of him. "You've led us to a false savior."

T'Greth headed in their direction, and Tom reflexively reached for his phaser, forgetting he didn't have one, but instead T'Greth just pushed past him, dejected, heading for the exit.

"Well, that could've gone better," Tom said.

"Let's go," B'Elanna said. As she, Tom, and Captain Janeway entered the corridor, B'Elanna shook her head. "I knew coming here was a mistake.

"Lieutenant," Tom heard Kohlar's voice say. He and B'Elanna both turned around. "I need your help."

"Any more 'help' from me and you're going to have a holy war on your hands," B'Elanna said.

"That's what I'm trying to prevent," Kohlar said.

"Come again?" Tom said, wondering where this was going.

"Is there someplace we can speak privately, away from the rest of my crew?" Kohlar said.

"Briefing room," Janeway said. "You two," she added, pointing at B'Elanna and Tom, "follow me."

"Aye, Captain," Tom said, still wondering where this was going. He looked at B'Elanna, and knew her expressions well enough to know she was thinking the same thing.

As soon as the four of them went into the briefing room, the guards waiting outside, B'Elanna sat down and spoke first.

"My baby's just a baby," she said. "Why do you keep doing this?"

"You may be right," Kohlar said, shocking Tom.

"What?" B"Elanna said. "Then why-"

"We must convince my people that your child is the savior though," Kohlar continued, looking ashamed.

"So, why?" Tom said.

"We've travelled more than 30,000 light years in search of this savior," Kohlar said. "And in more than one hundred years we've found nothing. Nothing except for hardship, and isolation. When I saw Lieutenant Torres, when I saw that she was with child, I didn't know if I was looking at the mother of the kuvah'magh or not. Perhaps she is. But what I am certain of is I saw an opportunity to end this wasteful journey."

"So, you have doubts about the prophecy?" Janeway said.

"I believe my people have suffered enough," Kohlar said, looking at Janeway. "If they accept B'Elanna's child as the kuvah'magh, she will hold great influence over them." He turned to face B'Elanna again. "If we find a suitable planet, you can tell them it's our new home and lead them there. They will follow if they believe."

"I'm not going to lie to them," B'Elanna said. Tom started to think of something to say to try and get her to change her mind, thinking that it would be for the best as much for her own sanity as for anything else. but Kohlar spoke first.

"What's the alternative?" he said. "My people staying aboard your ship? Draining your resources?"

 _Maybe you should've thought about that before blowing up your own ship_ , Tom thought.

"I agree with B'Elanna," Captain Janeway said. "I don't feel comfortable deceiving your people based on their faith."

"Didn't we do that with a couple of Ferengi several years ago?" B'Elanna said.

"That was different," Janeway said. "The Ferengi were taking advantage of those people's beliefs to exploit them, and we put a stop to it. This would basically be doing the same thing."

"Perhaps you won't have to lie to them to convince them," Kohlar said, "not really. B'Elanna, if you study the scrolls with me, we may be able to interpret them in a way that appears consistent with the events of your life. Then we'll bring those consistencies to the council of elders."

"Well," Tom said, "wouldn't be the first time holy texts were creatively reinterpreted to serve someone else's needs."

"You're not making me feel any better about this, Tom," Janeway said.

"It is possible that the sacred scrolls were scribbled by a mad man in cave, or perhaps they were truly divinely inspired. I do not claim to know," Kohlar said. "Either way, they've guided us for over a century. If my people start to believe that the scrolls have led them astray, there may be violence. That much I am certain of. This is not a threat, it is a concern."

"I see," Janeway said. Tom figured it was an easy choice to make, and he wondered why both her and B'Elanna were so reluctant.

"You're doing everything you can to get your people home, Captain," Kohlar said. "That's all I'm doing for mine."

"Alright," B'Elanna said. "We should get started."

* * *

"The more I read these," B'Elanna said, stifling a yawn, "the more convinced I am that I'm not the mother of your messiah. According to this, 'the kuva'magh will be descended from a noble house.' I don't come from one, and I'm pretty sure my husband doesn't either."

"Hey," Tom said from the couch.

"We all have nobility in our blood if we go back far enough," Kohlar said.

"So these scrolls can mean anything you want them to," B'Elanna said.

"It is written that the mother of the kuvah'magh would be an off-worlder. Weren't you born on a Federation colony?" Kohlar asked.

"A lot of Klingons are born off-world," B'Elanna said, rubbing her eyes. "Interstellar empire, remember?"

"It also says you would've lived a life of solitude," Kohlar said. "And endured many hardships."

Tom whistled. "That does sound a lot like your life before _Voyager_ ," he said.

"Yours too," B'Elanna pointed out. She picked up one of the Klingon data pads scattered across her dinner table. "According to this one, I'm supposed to have won a glorious victory against an army of ten-thousand warriors. We haven't encountered ten thousand warriors."

"Unless you count the Borg," Tom said.

"That's a stretch, Tom," B'Elanna said.

"Nah, if I really wanted to stretch I'd bring up all the times you and Seven of Nine ran your favorite combat simulations on easy mode."

"Low difficulty setting," B'Elanna said, "and that was to help her work out her grief over losing Edwin, not for fight training."

"You mentioned the Borg," Kohlar said. "I read about them in your databanks. Did you not help destroy one of their vessels?"

"Me and everyone else on the crew," B'Elanna said. "By that logic Marla Gilmore or Captain Janeway are better fits to be the mother of the kuvah'magh."

"That could still count as your glorious victory," Kohlar said. He looked around her and Tom's quarters as if he was deciding where to put furniture. It was the first time he'd taken it in since he'd arrived. It was a wonder to B'Elanna he hadn't tripped over an ottoman or a chair yet. "Where are the images of Kahless? Where is your family crest?"

"They clashed with the carpet," B'Elanna said.

"Don't you honor any of your family's traditions?" Kohlar said.

"We do the Day of Honor," Tom said.

Kohlar nodded. He looked over the chronometer and smiled.

"There is one tradition we can honor together," Kohlar said, laying out his robe on the floor. "It is midday. It is time to honor the sacrifices of our ancestors. You can join us if you wish, Mister Paris."

"I don't think-" B'Elanna started to say, but Tom stood up.

"I'd be honored," he said. B'Elanna frowned. It was a source of annoyance to her that her husband seemed to care more about the history of her people than she did. The first Day of Honor they had done together, coincidentally the day they admitted their feelings for each other, had been his idea in the first place.

"Haven't you made a Plea for the Dead before?" Kohlar said.

"Not since I was a child," B'Elanna said. "And Mom, she didn't do it every day. I don't think it's been a daily ritual for our people for decades."

"The dead can't rest in Sto-Vo-Kor if the living don't honor their memory," Kohlar said. He went down on one knee on the robe. Tom copied the gesture without being asked.

"Perhaps there is someone I can plead for on your behalf," Kohlar said. "Who did you plead for as a child?"

"My grandmother, L'Naan" B'Elanna said, remembering the ritual now, despite not having performed it in nearly twenty years. "She died fighting the Tholians."

"Mister Paris?" Kohlar said.

"I don't have any names," Tom said, "but I'd like to honor the thousands of Klingons who died helping us fight the Dominion, back in the Alpha Quadrant. B'Elanna and I might not have a home to go to if our peoples hadn't been fighting side by side."

Kohlar smiled.

"I believe that," he said. "It would seem that when our people work together no force in the galaxy can stand against us for long."

Kohlar took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

"Kahless," he said, "We implore you to remember those warriors who have fallen in your name. Lift them out of the cavern-"

"Of the cavern of despair," B'Elanna said, surprised that she remembered the words. The two Klingons continued speaking the words, while Tom remained respectfully quiet.

"And reveal yourself to them in all your glory."

"Remember Kolax, son of Amar," Kohlar said. "Remember Talij, daughter of K'Rene."

"Remember L'Naan," B'Elanna said, "daughter of Krelik."

"Remember," Tom said, "the thousands who died in battle to save an entire quadrant of the galaxy from oppression and genocide."

"Well put," Kohlar said.

* * *

Seven of Nine walked into sickbay, just in time to see Harry Kim leaving with a bandage on his cheek, but not seeming to mind it was there.

"Hi," he said. Seven pondered asking him what had happened, but then remembered there were Klingon females aboard, and decided it was best that she knew as little as possible.

"Ah, Seven," The Doctor said. "I completed that analysis you requested."

"I appreciate that Doctor," Seven said, "howev-"

"There is some risk involved," The Doctor said, seemingly not having heard all of what Seven had said. "However, if you and Sam do decide to go this route, I do not think your child will have any nanoprobes in their system. The risk is more in the delivery."

"Doctor," Seven said, "you're getting ahead of yourself. I asked because I was curious. Samantha and I have not discussed having a child together."

"Oh," The Doctor said. "I'm sorry I didn't realize-"

"I've come to realize that my contemplation of the matter stems from curiosity sparked by B'Elanna Torres' pregnancy," Seven continued. "I am uncertain that it is truly something I desire for myself, and even if I did I would not do it without Samantha's consent."

"Well obviously," The Doctor said. "Adjusting her DNA would be simple, but I can't do it without her permission."

Seven nodded.

"In addition," she continued, "there is admittedly a selfish reason as well as the practical ones. Sam and I have had some difficulties finding time together of late. Raising both Naomi and Icheb are the primary factors in that. I bear no resentment towards them, it is simply the reality of the situation."

The Doctor smiled. "You wouldn't trade away any of it though, would you?"

Seven nodded. "Correct. Perhaps once Icheb has fully matured, and Naomi is more capable of full independence, I will discuss the matter with Samantha. Until then, I think it best we keep this confidential."

"I would do so," The Doctor said, "even if you two were trying. After all, the DNA treatments don't always take on the first try."

Seven nodded once more.

"I apologize if I wasted any of your time," she said.

"Oh not at all," The Doctor said, smiling. "In fact, it proved to be a fascinating bit of research, trying to determine what effect pregnancy might have on you and your Borg implants. I started by-"

"I don't need to know the details," Seven said. "Not now anyway. Later, perhaps?"

"Certainly."

* * *

The next day, B'Elanna Torres, after a full night's sleep, felt she was as ready as she was ever going to be to make her, or rather Kohlar's, case to the council of elders. She would've preferred to spend at least one more day with the scrolls, seeing as it wasn't as though _Voyager_ was in danger of leaving the Klingons behind at the moment, but Kohlar was worried that making them wait too long would cause problems not unlike the ones he'd hoped to avoid.

She passed by Harry Kim in the corridor as she headed to the mess hall, wearing traditional Klingon garb.

"Harry," B'Elanna said, "what happened to your face."

"Ch'Rega," Harry said casually. "She initiated a Klingon mating ritual last night."

"Oh, Harry," Tom said, "Sorry to hear that."

Harry shrugged. "Eh, I've had worse," he said, pointing to the bite mark on his cheek. "At least she understands what 'take it easy' means."

B'Elanna sighed. "Please tell me you're not in lo-"

"It's not serious," Harry said, crossing his arms. "Not that it would be any of your business if it was. We're all consenting adults here."

B'Elanna raised her hands in a gesture of apology. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I just figured… You know, Libby."

Harry nodded. "We've been communicating through Pathfinder," he said. "She's been seeing other people too. Nothing serious there either, at least not yet. I wish her all the best though if she does find someone. Right now we're still looking at thirty years before we get home. I'm not going to be an asshole and expect her to wait that long, and she doesn't expect me to either."

"Well, hey," Tom said, smiling. "I'm glad you two are having fun. You know, if this whole thing with the scrolls works she'll probably be leaving us soon."

"I know," Harry said. "And so does she, sort of. Ch'Rega's convinced they'll find a planet to settle on fairly soon. She's never been planetside her entire adult life. I think she's looking forward to the change of pace. The last time she left the Klingon ship before Kohlar blew it up was a food gathering mission. Anyway, good luck with your stories, B'Elanna."

With that, Harry went on his way, while B'Elanna and Tom met up with Kohlar outside the mess hall.

"Ready?" Kohlar said.

"As I'll ever be," B'Elanna said. The three of them walked in, and as soon as the formalities were out of the way, she began the prepared stories Kohlar had asked for, embellishing some of her own accomplishments aboard _Voyager_ over the past six and a half years. And in other cases just making stuff up.

"..and that's when they beamed aboard the _Flyer_ , weapons firing," B'Elanna said, walking around the table as she spoke, "Tuvok and Neelix fought valiantly, but there were too many Hirogen. I had to face ten of their fiercest hunters alone."

Most of the crowd seemed to be going along with it, though she couldn't tell if they believe her outright, or figured she was exaggerating but just didn't care. Hell, some of them had probably done the same.

"My phaser was shot out of my hand," B'Elanna said, finishing the story, "forcing me to take down the last hunter in hand-to-hand combat. It was a glorious fight."

"Indeed it was," Neelix said, as he poured blood wine into one of the elder's cups. B'Elanna silently thanked him for going along, wishing she'd had time to let him know what she was planning to do.

"Your ancestors would be honored," Kohlar said, smiling. He began pounding his mug on the table, and many of the other Klingons joined in. Tom did as well.

"You tell a good story," T'Greth, one of the Klingons who didn't join the pounding, said. "But that's not why you're here. Some say you are the mother of the kuvah'magh, the one who will guide us to a new homeworld." It was clear in T'Greth's tone that he didn't believe it. As much as B'Elanna wanted to agree with him, she knew that she couldn't. Not out loud anyway.

"Has your unborn child told you where it is?" T'Greth continued, his voice dripping with sarcasm, and a few of the other Klingons muttering in agreement with T'Greth's vocal skepticism. He laughed, and the muttering Klingons joined him. A few others did too. B'Elanna felt like she was, as one of those old Earth comedians Tom liked might say, losing the room.

"The Scrolls say," B'Elanna said, hoping her voice had the conviction that she personally lacked, "'You will follow in my footsteps before I have made them.' Yesterday we changed course. We are now heading towards a planet very much like Qo'Nos. So in a manner of speaking, you are now following my child to a new home."

Some of the Klingons, the majority as far as B'Elanna could tell from where she was standing, were nodding.

"You deliver the words we want to hear," T'Greth said angrily, "but it's Kohlar who gives them to you. Are you his puppet in the bedchamber as well?"

"Watch it," Tom said, standing up. "That's my wife you're talking about."

"He speaks!" T'Greth said with mock amazement. "I didn't think he had tongue."

"Oh, I've got one all right," Tom said, "and I use-"

"Tom, don't you dare finish that sentence," B'Elanna grunted.

"You see how he hides behind his female?" T'Greth said, riling up the crowd. The crowd murmered in agreement.

"Now wait just a damn minute-" B'Elanna started to say, before T'Greth cut her off.

"It is also written that the father of the kuvah'magh will be an honorable warrior."

"I've led a few commando raids in my time," Tom said. "That honorable enough for you?"

"Ha!" T'Greth said. "Would an honorable warrior refuse a challenge?"

"What challenge?" Tom said, crossing his arms. "You have to make one before I can accept it."

"I haven't made one yet," T'Greth said, smiling in a way that made B'Elanna very nervous.

"That's right," Tom said, "you haven't made a challenge. Just insults. And not very good ones at that."

Half the Klingon's laughed, and a few even applauded at Tom's comeback, but that wasn't a good sign to B'Elanna at all.

T'Greth did not seem offended in the slightest. In fact he smiled even more.

"True," he said, "you have me there Mister Paris. So I will make my challenge now." T'Greth picked up a carving knife from the table, and B'Elanna was ready to punch him in the face if he made a move against Tom. Instead, he stabbed the table. "You and I. To the death."

 _There's no way Tom's going to-_

"I accept," Tom said, pulling the knife out of the table.

 _Goddammit._

Many of the surrounding Klingons cheered, pounding their mugs on the tables. The only exceptions B'Elanna could see were Kohlar, who looked sad, and T'Greth who kept grinning. B'Elanna wanted very much to smack that grin off his face. She also wanted to punch her husband for having done something so stupid. If she wasn't pregnant, she imagined she could easily do both.

* * *

Captain Janeway rubbed her temples, trying to will the headache away as she listened patiently to what Tom and B'Elanna were telling her.

"What was I supposed to say?" Tom said.

"How about 'no?'" B'Elanna said.

"They were all watching," Tom said, defensively. "There would've been a riot if I'd refused."

Janeway hated to admit it, but Tom was right on that point. That unfortunately meant that she had only two options; let Tom fight and probably get himself killed, or find a way to put a stop to this without offending the Klingons, who had her crew nearly outnumbered, and certainly out matched in terms of physical strength and experience. The latter was the least likely.

"What makes you so sure I'd lose?" Tom said. Janeway for a second thought he'd somehow read her mind, but realized that while she was thinking B'Elanna had been talking. Janeway mentally kicked herself for missing that.

"Oh please," B'Elanna said.

"Look," Tom said, "I have no intention of fighting anyone to the death, but wasn't the whole point of this to get them to believe that we are the parents of their savior?"

"This has gone too far," B'Elanna said, turning to face Janeway now. "We need to put a stop to this."

"I intend to," Janeway said. She tapped her comm badge and asked Tuvok to find both Kohlar and T'Greth and bring them to the briefing room. She had an idea. It was a longshot, but with any luck, when it was all over, T'Greth would be too angry at her to think about killing Tom. That came with its own set of problems, but as her grandfather used to say, "We'll burn that bridge when we cross it."

When both Klingon men walked into the briefing room, Tuvok standing behind them, Janeway stood up and began speaking.

"Gentlemen," she said, "I'm afraid Lieutenant Paris had no authority to accept your challenge. If you want to fight, you'll have to do it somewhere else. And seeing as we're a good long ways away from anyplace with oxygen-"

"I told you this pahtk was not the true father," T'Greth said to Kohlar in a dismissive, insulting tone.

"Want a blood test, you drunk piece of-" Tom started to say, but Janeway cut him off with a handwave.

"There will be no death matches aboard my ship," Janeway said. "I don't care how badly either of you want it."

"The father of the kuvah'magh wouldn't let a woman speak for him," T'Greth said.

"Have you forgotten we have women on our crew, old friend?" Kohlar said. "Each one as brave in battle as you."

" _Klingon_ women," T'Greth said.

"So?" Kohlar said. "You did not specify that when you insulted Mister Paris."

"You knew what I meant," T'Greth said through gritted teeth.

"We cannot have a battle to the death," Kohlar said, "but we can still settle this matter like warriors."

Janeway did not like the sound of that, but she knew she had to let this play out.

"What are you talking about, Kohlar?" T'Greth said.

"There is precedent for an honorable compromise," Kohlar continued. "A non-lethal bout with blunted bat'leths. Victory goes to the first warrior to knock his opponent down three times."

"Seriously?" Tom said, sounding offended. Janeway hoped that was an act and that Tom wasn't going to undo Janeway's effort to stop this fight altogether. "Where did that idea come from?"

"A coward, no doubt," T'Greth said. "Even the human-"

"Was the Emperor Mur'Eq a coward?" Kohlar shouted, looking at both Tom and T'Greth with a look of deep offense.

"Emperor Mur'Eq?" Janeway said, genuinely curious.

"He was the one who instituted the rules," Kohlar said, "to insure that his warriors would kill their enemies and not each other during a time of great war, when the enemy outnumbered us by legions. Mur'Eq could not afford to let an individual warrior's pride to cost him a single man in that war, but he knew that honor must also be satisfied."

T'Greth nodded. "Mur'Eq was one of our greatest Emperors, during the glory days of the Empire. I did not mean to dishonor his memory."

Janeway sighed. She'd hoped to prevent a fight altogether, but she supposed this was the best she could hope for. The rest of the senior staff might think she could've done more, but as she found herself thinking a lot in recent years, she didn't want to push her luck.

"Very well," she said. "Tom?"

"I agree to these terms," Tom said, looking at Janeway. He then turned to face T'Greth. "I'll see you on the field of battle."

T'Greth quietly growled his response. "I was about to say the same thing." He then turned around and left.

"That could've gone better," B'Elanna said, "but I guess it could've gone worse too."

"I will train you myself, Lieutenant Paris," Kohalr said.

"I know how to fight," Tom said.

"I don't doubt that," Kohlar said. "But I've known T'Greth my whole life. I know how he fights. I know his tells. You will need that to win. I take no pleasure in this, but in order for my crew to survive, I must dishonor my right hand man."

Tom nodded. "There's no dishonor in doing what's best for your people," he said.

Captain Janeway nearly winced when she heard that, reminded of the things Captain Ransom had said to her to justify what he had done for the crew of the _Equinox_. She shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind.

"Lieutenant," she said, putting a hand on Tom's shoulder. "In the future, talk to me before accepting any death matches."

"I assume we will be using one of the holodecks for the arena for this fight," Tuvok said.

"I've got some old Klingon battleground locations in my collection," B'Elanna said. "Never used most of them, my Mom gave them to me. Might as well put them to good use. Well, to use anyway."

"Look," Tom said, "I know you're not happy I accepted T'Greth's challenge but-"

"Let's have that conversation later," B'Elanna said, starting to head towards the door. "I'm not in the mood right now."

Tom sighed as she left, and turned to face Captain Janeway. "I really did step in it this time, didn't I?"

"At the risk of sounding mean, Mister Paris," Janeway said, "I can at least say this isn't the worst thing you've ever done."

"Thanks. I think."

* * *

B'Elanna watched as people started filing into the holodeck, the technology of the room managing to make people look further apart than they were. Crowding was still certainly going to become a problem though. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see The Doctor.

"Surprised to see you here," she said. "I thought you hated this kind of thing."

"I do," The Doctor said. "I'm here in an official capacity. You'd be surprised how much damage even a blunted bat'leth can do."

"Nah, I know," B'Elanna said. "My Mom taught me how to use bat'leths with a blunted one."

"I was under the impression that wasn't standard practice," The Doctor said.

"It's not. It was her compromise with Dad," B'Elanna said. "She didn't seem to mind though. I forget sometimes that the two of them actually did love each other at one point."

"Warriors, assemble!" Kohlar shouted. B'Elanna sighed, and handed the bat'leth she was holding to Tom, who was now dressed in standard Klingon warrior garb. Were the situation not so serious, she would probably be teasing him about he looked in it. She knew of some humans who could pull off Klingon fashion well, but her husband was not one of them.

"Today would be a very bad day to die," she whispered to Tom.

"I'll try to remember that," Tom whispered back.

"Let honor guide you," Kohlar said, holding his fist over his heart as both Tom and T'Greth took their positions. "Tagh!"

T'Greth began twirling his bat'leth around. It was a showy move, but terrible for fighting. If Tom had wanted to he could've struck right there, but Tom was holding a defensive stance with his weapon.

"I see fear in your eyes, human," T'Greth said.

"The only Klingon I'm afraid of is my wife after she's worked a double-shift," Tom said.

 _I will make you pay for that one_ , B'Elanna thought.

T'Greth attacked, several times, but Tom managed to block each blow with surprisingly little effort. B'Elanna worried for a moment that T'Greth was holding back to lull Tom into a false sense of security, but T'Greth's already sweaty face suggested otherwise.

A couple of times T'Greth broke though Tom's blocks, but Tom managed to dodge each swipe of the blade, ducking and jumping at just the right times. The battle went on for a few minutes, neither opponent gaining any apparent ground. T'Greth was starting to look tired. She glanced at Kohlar, who seemed to notice it to, as the Klingon captain watched his second-in-command with unexpected concern.

Tom must've realized it to, because he finally went on the attack. T'Greth blocked every single one of Tom's strikes, but only barely, and even managed to stumble once. He took a swing at Tom that, had it come from a healthy Klingon, probably would've taken Tom's head off, blunted weapon or not. Except it was increasingly obvious that T'Greth was not healthy. Tom easily ducked the attack and pressed his own driving T'Greth to his knees. T'Greth's labored breathing was loud enough that B'Elanna could tell looking at the crowd that everyone else heard it too.

T'Greth got back up, and took another swing at Tom, one so slow and sloppy that Tom didn't even have to step back to avoid it. After that, T'Greth stumbled backwards, and collapsed. Tom immediately dropped his bat'leth and went to T'Greth's side.

"Doc!" Tom yelled, as The Doctor was already pulling out his medical tricorder.

"It's begun," Kohlar said.

"What are you talking about?" The Doctor said.

"He's dying," Kohlar said.

"Typically I'm the one to make that kind of prognosis," The Doctor said, clearly annoyed at Kohlar standing over his shoulder.

"It's the nehret," Kohlar said, "It kills all of us who aren't fortunate enough to die in battle."

"I'll have T'Greth beamed to sickbay," The Doctor said. "You can explain more there."

B'Elanna touched Tom on the arm. "We should go too," she said. "I have a terrible feeling about this."

"I do too," Tom said.

* * *

"It's a retrovirus that destroys the cells by attacking the cytoplasmic membranes," The Doctor said, pointing to an image on the console next to the bio bed where T'Greth lay, still unconscious.

Captain Janeway, Kohalr standing right next to her, looked at image with concern. Virology was not her field of expertise, but she'd seen enough images like these from her chief medical officers over the years to know that this was a particularly nasty virus.

"Shouldn't our bio-filters have detected it?" Janeway said.

"This is an insidious virus," The Doctor said. "It didn't come up when I scanned some of the Klingons who came aboard after their ship blew up. The ones who would let me anyway. The point is though, it lies dormant and disguises itself as inert genetic material. It could fool anyone right up to the moment it becomes active."

"The nehret always comes without warning," Kohlar said.

"Is it contagious?" B'Elanna said, her hands covering her stomach protectivly, Tom holding her hand.

"Now that I know what to look for," The Doctor said, "I went over the data collected on the Klingons when they were beamed aboard. They're all carriers."

"Why didn't you tell us your people had a disease?" Janeway said, looking at Kohlar angrily.

"And why have I never heard of the nehret before?" B'Elanna said. "I imagine Mom would've told me about something like this."

"We do not think of it as a disease," Kohlar said, "It's more like old age."

Janeway shook her head, annoyed at Kohlar's calmness in the face of all this.

"Going back to B'Elanna's question," The Doctor said, "I'm afraid the answer is yes, it is contagious, but only to Klingons."

Janeway looked over at B'Elanna, and was saddened by the worried look on her face as Tom tried to quietly reassure her.

"I would like to examine Lieutenant Torres," The Doctor continued. "If you could give us some privacy, please?"

"Of course, Doctor," Janeway said. She grabbed Kohlar's arm with as much force as she could manage, even though she doubted he felt it, and all but shoved him towards the exit. She looked back over her shoulder as Tom and B'Elanna moved closer to The Doctor and began speaking to him.

She also thought she saw T'Greth's eyes opening, but figured it best to let The Doctor handle that.

* * *

T'Greth felt somewhat better after he left sickbay. He had convinced The Doctor to let him leave to prepare for his journey to Sto-Vo-Kor. Despite his medical concerns, the hologram had agreed to honor T'Greth's tradition. T'Greth did feel a little bit like a dishonorable liar, but he had been partially truthful. He was ready to go to his people's afterlife. But that was not why he wanted to leave sickbay when he did.

While there, he'd overheard The Doctor tell B'Elanna Torres that she and her child had the nehret as well. When he had struggled to get out of the bed he'd been put in, she had yelled at him, as if it were somehow his fault that Kohlar, his captain, had failed to inform Captain Janeway of the illness he and the rest of his crew carried.

He entered cargo bay 1, where the council of elders resided, and wasted no time once he had their attention.

"The child," he said, "is not the kuvah'magh."

"But the father accepted your challenge," one of the council said, standing up. T'Greth found it amusing that this man who was younger than him served on the 'council of elders.' The humans called it irony, he just called it an accident of birth. "He defeated you."

"I was defeated by the nehret," T"Greth said. "B'Elanna Torres and her child will fall victim to it as well."

"Impossible," the younger elder said.

"They both carry it," T'Greth said. "I heard from her own mouth, and that of their doctor as well. I will kill anyone who makes it known that I said this, but this hologram is by far the most competent medic I have ever met. I would be honored to let him dress my wounds and send me back out onto the field of war. If he says it is true, then it is true."

"The Scrolls say the kuvah'magh is younger than old age," the younger elder said. T'Greth sighed. Clearly this one had bought into Kohlar's stories more than the others, who merely listened quietly. As elders should. They would hear what he had to say, and they would decide what to do next. Though hopefully, they would listen to his suggestion on that matter.

"And stronger than sickness," T'Greth said, wanting to be angrier at Kohlar than he was, but finding he lacked the energy for it. "I remember. This means she cannot be our savior."

The council members all leaned close to speak to each other, T'Greth wishing he could hear their whispers, but not wanting to disrespect them by moving in close enough to do so.

"We should resume our search," one of the elders said.

"Kohlar and many of the others will not agree," the younger elder said.

"Then we must act alone," T'Greth said. "For the good of our people. We will wait for our moment, and when it comes, we will seize _Voyager_."

* * *

Seven of Nine wondered why T'Greth had decided to come to astrometrics, but T'Greth assured her that he was there to check on the progress of the search for a new homeworld.

She wondered why now of all times, especially with T'Greth being ill, a fact she couldn't avoid learning about even though she didn't feel it was any of her business. She shrugged.

"Very well," she said, and went to the main console to pull up data on two planets she had just recently scanned as potential settlement sites. She had intended to present these to the Captain first, but saw no harm in sharing with the Klingon.

"On this planet," she said as the computer generated image of an M-class planet filled the screen, "we found two potential sites for colonization on the southern hemisphere. I can prepare more detailed topographical scans once we've gotten a few light years closer."

"I think I should join the survey team," T'Greth said.

"Is that advisable," Seven said, "given your current condition?"

"I do not wish to die inside these walls," T'Greth said. "I want to spend my final days in honorable pursuits."

Seven nodded.

"Understandable," she said.

T'Greth laughed. "Not the response I expected from a human. I figured you would try to convince to me to keep fighting, to try and hold on no matter how much damage my illness did to me."

"Seeing as it is your illness," Seven said, "how you choose to deal with it is between you and your doctor. How I feel is irrelevant."

"Would you keep trying to survive?" T'Greth asked. "If you were faced with a slow death from a virus?"

Seven thought about that for a moment. "That would depend entirely on the context. What type of virus, the severity of the symptoms, the odds of treatment success… and how old my children were."

"Ah, yes," T'Greth said. "I have not met them but I heard there were children aboard. Both are yours? You seem rather young for a human to have two offspring already."

"Well," Seven said, wondering just how much she should share with this man she had only met today, and who just a few days ago threatened to kill Tom Paris. "They are not mine by blood. I still care for them as though they were, of course."

T'Greth nodded, looking back at the screen. "I see we will be in transporter range of this planet fairly soon. I should prepare. Thank you for your time, Seven of Nine."  
Seven nodded politely as T'Greth walked away. On his way out he nearly walked into Samantha, who walked into the lab carrying a PADD.

After exchanging a polite but brief greeting with T'Greth, Sam walked over to Seven.

"Make a new friend, Annie?"

"Perhaps," Seven said. "He is certainly more… complex than his attitudes towards Lieutenant Torres and Paris would suggest."

"Hmm," Sam said. "Well, both Naomi and Icheb have been peppering me with questions about Klingon culture. Perhaps I should have them talk to him. Unless you think he might try anything like a fight to the death again."

"I doubt he would do that if he wanted to," Seven said. "He seems fairly certain his illness will claim his life fairly soon."

Sam frowned. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. I hope The Doctor can come up with a treatment of some kind. At the very least we could save the other Klingons. And B'Elanna and the baby of course."

"I believe he will," Seven said. "I imagine in a few years Naomi will have a new playmate. Now, about this PADD you brought me."

"That, yes," Sam said, smiling. "Naomi has taken it upon herself to make plans for your birthday in a few months a little early. I figured you should know what she was up to so you wouldn't be too put out. I explained to her you don't like surprise parties, but…"

"There are very few things I would use the adjective 'hate' for," Seven said, "but surprise parties definitely fall under that rubric." She took the PADD and kissed Sam on the cheek. "Thank you for the warning."

"Well," Sam said, putting her hand to her head in an overly dramatic fashion, "I don't like going behind my daughter's back, but sometimes being a parent is about making hard choices."

"Do you want me to get your fainting couch?" Seven asked, with a wink and a smile. Samantha laughed.

"I should let you get back to work," she said, wrapping her arms around Seven as she spoke. She kissed Seven on the cheek and whispered an innuendo in her ear before leaving astrometrics.

"I think I am going to have a very happy birthday this year," Seven muttered to herself as she watched Sam leave. Once she was gone, Seven returned to her work scanning the planet.

* * *

B'Elanna's fingers twitched nervously as she entered sickbay, having been called there by The Doctor. He'd said it was urgent, but he didn't sound panicked at all. Perhaps it was good news. Not that thinking it could be good news did anything to calm her nerves.

"You said it was urgent?" she said to The Doctor, not waiting for him to acknowledge her entrance.

"I need to conduct a more detailed bio-scan of your baby," The Doctor said, getting straight to the point, something B'Elanna wished he would do more often. If he hadn't been smiling in that moment, B'Elanna wasn't sure how she'd react. But he was.

"You've found a cure? Already?"

"Perhaps," he said. "I don't want to get ahead of myself, but what I've found looks very promising. Even if it isn't a cure, it might be a treatment. And that's always a step in the right direction."

B'Elanna nodded. "Okay, do what you have to do." She walked over to the nearest bio-bed and slowly got herself into it, right when the yellow alert lights went on.

"What the hell?" she said.

"Doctor to the bridge," The Doctor said, tapping his comm badge, "what's going on?"

"The Klingons have taken over transporter room 1," Janeway's voice replied. "They're trying to beam the crew down to the planet. We haven't been able to stop them yet from up here but we've slowed them down, trying to buy time for Tuvok and security team to get down there. Sickbay is secure right now, but disconnect your mobile emitter just to be safe so they can't beam you off too."

"I'm not wearing it right now, Captain," The Doctor said.

"Good to know," Janeway said. "Stand by. I'll get in touch with you once the situation is resolved."

"I should go," B'Elanna said, trying to get up. "If they've cleared out engineering-"

"No," The Doctor said, "I need to do these scans. If I can fix this nehret situation maybe that will help resolve this."

B'Elanna sighed, and looked down, needing the physical reminder that she wasn't in much condition to fight right now anyway.

"Fine," B'Elanna said. "Make it fast."

* * *

"Captain," Tom said, "a bunch of Klingon just materialized outside the bridge."

"They couldn't beam us off so they're going to try and get at us the hard way," Janeway said, standing up and pulling out her handphaser. "Arm yourselves."  
Janeway saw Tom stand up and pull out his phaser. She glanced around quickly and saw Lieutenant Ayala had his out and was already aiming at the turbolift doors. Two other gold shirted officers had their phasers out too, one at Harry's console, and the other at the main science station.

As the Klingons shoved their way through the doors, Janeway and Ayala each got off a shot that stunned one of them, his body falling in a way that blocked the two behind him from getting through. Ayala quickly moved to stun them, while Janeway turned in time to see T'Greth lead two more Klingons through the other entrance to the bridge, managing to duck the shots of the gold shirts, neither of whom were from security. Tom ducked behind his seat to avoid a phaser blast from T'Greth, firing back quickly. He missed T'Greth but struck and knocked down one of the Klingons behind him. Janeway fired her own phaser striking T'Greth in the chest. The last Klingon standing was taken down by a blast from each side by the two goldshirts. The fight for the bridge was over so quickly Janeway was pretty sure she hadn't broken a sweat.

"Bridge to Tuvok," she said.

"We have retaken the transporter room," Tuvok's reply came quickly. "There was only one Klingon manning the station, and there is no sign he had any other assistance besides the ones he beamed to the bridge."

"We took care of them," Janeway said. "Doesn't look like this was a large scale takeover attempt. T'Greth and a half-dozen, tops."

"That's barely one percent of all the Klingons aboard," Tom said. "I guess Kohlar and B'Elanna's stories had a bigger effect than I thought."

"Speaking of B'Elanna…" Janeway tapped her comm badge again, this time to call sickbay.

* * *

B'Elanna stood back and watched as The Doctor pressed the hypospray to T'Greth's neck. Kohlar stood next to her, while two security officers stood even further back, ready to move at a moment's notice if need be, and Captain Janeway standing next to The Doctor.

"Why am I not in Sto-vo-kor?" T'Greth said groggily as he sat up in the bio-bed.

"Because you are as healthy as a targ," The Doctor said.

 _I'll correct him on his pronunciation of that later_ , B'Elanna thought.

T'Greth looked confused. "The nehret?"

"Gone," The Doctor said.

"We have B'Elanna Torres' child to thank for it," Kohlar said. T'Greth's mouth hung open in shock.

"The fetus has hybrid stem-cells," The Doctor said. "They contain Human and Klingon DNA. I used them to synthesize an antivirus."

"The child cured me?" T'Greth said.

"Well," The Doctor said, smiling, "I was the one who devised the treat-"

"Doctor?" Janeway said.

"Yes," The Doctor said, "of course, the child cured you."

"The kuvah'magh has healed all of us," Kohlar said with unbridled excitement. If there had been some doubt before, it was long gone now. "She truly is our savior."

B'Elanna decided it was best to keep her mouth shut. She still didn't believe that her baby was part of some prophecy. But if T'Greth believed it, and that belief would get him and the rest of Kohlar's crew off her ship…

T'Greth had no response. He simply looked at B'Elanna, awestruck. B'Elanna didn't like that any more than he had looked at her with disdain and skepticism, but she accepted it.

"Kohlar, old friend," T"Greth said, "I am so sorry I-"

"That you knocked me unconscious and beamed me off the ship?" Kohlar said. "I think I will let that slide, T'Greth. Sto-vo-kor is not ready for you yet."

"But I acted so dishonorably, I-"

"Let's call it a crisis of faith," Kohlar said. "All is forgiven. Come, I want you at my side when we settle our new home."

* * *

Seven of Nine, leaning against Samantha Wildman on one side of a mess hall table, listened to Tom and B'Elanna who were holding hands on the other side.

"So he gave B'Elanna a bat'leth that had belonged to his great-grandfather," Tom said, speaking of the recently departed Kohlar.

"That's… nice. I suppose." Sam said.

"Hey, honey, how come you never give me a weapon as a present?" Seven said jokingly.

B'Elanna snorted, "Dammit, Seven, don't do that when I'm drinking something."

"Sorry," Seven said, genuinely apologetic.

"Well, anyway, like Tom said he gave me the bat'leth, but as a gift for the baby when she's older," B'Elanna said. "He made me promise to tell her all about him, and about Klingon history and culture."

"Like that was ever in doubt," Tom said. "Even if we hadn't met him. I think I'd be a pretty lousy father if I didn't make sure my kid knew where she came from."

"Good for you," Sam said.

"You know," Tom said after taking a sip of his coffee, "this is one special kid we're going to have."

"You're just figuring that out?" B'Elanna said.

"If you don't mind my asking," Sam said, "has this little adventure given you any ideas for names?"

"We have a list," B'Elanna said.

"Maybe something with religious significance," Tom said. "I mean, she is already the savior of an entire race."

"Okay," B'Elanna said, "one, not a whole race, just a warship crew. Two, you don't actually believe that do you?"

Tom shrugged. "There are an awful lot of coincidences to explain."

"I think he's got a point, B'Elanna," Sam said.

"Oh don't you start," B'Elanna said to Sam. She looked at Seven.

"Leave me out of this," Seven said.

"I was going to ask you about baby names, smartass," B'Elanna said.

"I was thinking either Sofie or Lucia," Seven said.

"You just happened to have those on the tip of your tongue there, sweetie?" Samantha said casually, gently stroking Seven's arm.

"You two have never talked about maybe having a kid together?" Tom said.

"No," Samantha said. "I'm not dead-set against it mind you, it's just that even if either Annie or I were talking about it, now is just not the time for a third kid in the mix."

"Agreed," Seven said. "Though i suppose I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it." She looked Sam in the eyes. "Sorry I didn't mention that earlier, Sammy."

Sam looked perplexed. "No need to apologize. I'm willing to bet that you were thinking about it lately because of B'elanna, am I right?"

"Do you know me that well," Seven said, "or am I just that predictable?"

"I thought Borg liked routine," Tom said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Seven**

As beautiful as the sunrises on Quarra were, Kathy Janeway had little time to enjoy today's as she tried to find a supervisor. She needed this job, and being late on her first day was not a good way to make a first impression. She knew this planet had a bit of a labor shortage which might save her, but she would still rather not risk it. Factory work was a bit beneath her skill-set, but better to get her hands dirty here than to keep them clean behind a desk on the shithole planet she was born on.

"Excuse me," she asked a pink-skinned alien who was about to pass her, "can you tell me where I can find the supervisor?"  
"Over there," the alien said, pointing to his right.

"Thank you," Kathy said, jogging off in that direction. She made her way to a small office with a window that overlooked this part of the factory floor. The supervisor seemed to realize what she was there for just by looking as he stepped out to meet her and immediately, but politely, asked for her authorization and licenses.

He looked at them, smiling. "Level 6 in thermodynamics _and_ quantum fusion? I'm impressed Ms. Janeway."

"Thank you, sir," Kathy said. "And I apologize for being late. I boarded the wrong transport and-"

"Ended up at the Atmosphere Filtration Facility? Don't feel bad, I did that my first day too. Happens to nearly two-thirds of the new hires in the first week. But around here we have a saying. 'First is forgiven.' Don't let it happen again, but as this is your first infraction, and a minor one at that, it won't go in your file."

"Thank you, sir," Kathy said.

"With your skills I'm surprised Atmo didn't offer you a job when you got there," the supervisor said. "But since you're here, your job is to monitor the primary reactor coils. They process more than eight thousand metric-"

"Eight thousand metric tons of tylium per second at 94% thermal efficiency."

The supervisor chuckled. "Well, hopefully we can help you keep that level of enthusiasm for the job. We like to keep our workforce happy. If you have any problems, let me know."

The supervisor turned to walk away, then stopped.

"Oh, just a head's up, we have a new efficiency monitor who also just started and she can be a bit… abrasive. She is good at her job though so listen to what she says, and try not to let her demeanor get to you. I guess being overly blunt comes with the territory when you're a cyborg."

"I'll keep that in mind, sir," Kathy said. As soon as the supervisor walked away, she immediately got to work. It didn't take her long to get into a rhythm. So much of one that she almost didn't noticed when a co-worker attempted to hand her a datapad with new specifications.

"Ah, thank you." she said to the alien, who simply nodded and walked away. She began entering the specifications, when suddenly an error alarm went off.

"Of for the love of-"

"Input Error 145," the automated alarm said between beeps. Kathy tried to correct, but was met with a "Command Code Violation 2308" for her efforts.

"Come on," she said, leaning in closer to the machine in front of her, hoping against all logic that being nice to the damn thing would work where her inputted instructions had somehow failed. "If you stop with that alarm, I promise I will never violate you again."

A hand reached into her peripheral vision and touched a button on the console, stopping the alarm immediately. She turned to see another alien, a male by all appearances, who was entering code of his own.

"You almost started a core overload," he said, though lacking the kind of judgement she would've expected from someone telling her she'd almost gotten everyone in the building killed.

 _If this is normal around here,_ she thought, _maybe I should get a new job._

"I would've corrected it," she said defensively. She wasn't entirely sure of that in actuality, though she doubted it was entirely her fault and made a mental note to double check the specs she'd been handed earlier.

"Well," the alien man said, "I'm sorry for interrupting then. And for eavesdropping. I overheard you talking to your console."

"Well, it was either that or some percussive maintenance," Janeway said, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Percussive main- Oh, you mean hitting it," the alien man said, chuckling. "I like that. Percussive maintenance. I'll have to remember that one. I'm Jaffen, by the way." He extended his hand, and Kathy shook it.

"Kathryn," she said. "I only let my friends call me Kathy and we're not there yet so don't even think about it."

"Understood," Jaffen said. "I work just down there," he said, motioning his head down towards the end of the workfloor.

"This station doesn't require two operators," a voice said. Kathy turned and saw a blonde-haired human woman with obvious cybernetic implants where one of her eyebrows should've been, and another just under her right ear.

 _This must be the efficiency monitor I was warned about_ , Kathy thought.

"I don't think we've met," Jaffen said, offering the cyborg a handshake as well. Kathy wondered if he'd picked that up from one of the other humans on this planet, or if his species had somehow developed that form of greeting on their own by sheer coincidence. "I'm-"

"Employee 1326," the cyborg said. "And you," she added, glancing at Kathy before returning her focus to a device in her hands, "are Employee 8584. Since you're new here, you may not be fully familiar with labor protocols."

She looked at Jaffen again. "But you should be aware that fraternizing is not permitted during work hours."

"And what's your number if you don't mind my asking? Or do you get a name?"

The cyborg sighed. "Annika Hansen. I am the new efficiency monitor."

"Ah," Jaffen said, "I didn't know they'd hired a new one so soon." He shook his head. "I'm happy for Masala of course, but I'm gonna miss him around here."

"Now that you know," Hansen said, "you can return to your work station."

"For the record," Kathy said, "we weren't fraternizing. Jaffen just helped me correct an input code error. Speaking of-"

"Finish quickly," Hansen said, nodding politely, and briskly turning and walking away.

"Yes ma'am," Kathy said quietly.

"She's a charmed one isn't she?" Jaffen said.

"I think you mean 'charming,'" Kathy said, "but yeah."

"Anyway, from where I was standing I thought we were fraternizing," Jaffen said with a friendly smile. Kathy chuckled , shook her head, and went back to work. "Maybe we could get acquainted after work."

Kathy almost reflexively said "No," but hesitated for a moment.

 _Should I?_ She thought.

"I can't," she said out loud. "I appreciate the offer but with this new job, I don't really have time to socialize." She casually pointed in the direction Annika Hansen had gone.  
Jaffen shrugged.

"Well, I suppose I could ask out the new efficiency monitor," he said, though the tone of his voice suggested he didn't really intend to.  
Kathy snorted a laugh. "I take it they don't have wedding rings on your homeworld."

"I know what those two words mean individually," Jaffen said, "but I'm afraid I don't know the context. Is this a… your race is called Human right? Is it a human thing?"

"Yeah," Kathy said. "Did you notice that ring on Hansen's hand there? That means that she's already spoken for. Some lucky guy, or girl, gets to wake up next to the bipedal calculator every morning."

"Huh," Jaffen said. "Oh well. See you around, Kathryn."

Kathy was surprised at how easy Jaffen was to let down. Not that he didn't seem disappointed, just that, unlike some males of her own species, he wasn't going to push the issue and that one "No" was enough for him. She found herself watching him as he walked away. She wondered if maybe she should've taken him up on his offer. She then wondered if she'd been too harsh in her initial assessment of Annika Hansen.

 _Or maybe the first impression was right on_ , she thought, _and the only reason someone married her was for that rack of hers. I mean hell, I'm not even into women and I thought about it for a second._

* * *

Jaffen waited by the bar, figuring the human women he had his eye on would show up sooner or later, but he didn't spend too much time watching the door. He was already starting to feel like a stalker for having gone this far. Usually a "No" was all he needed, but there was something in the way that Kathy had said it, hesitating before doing so. Or maybe he was just trying to rationalize his actions to himself, he was willing to admit that.

To pass the time, he shared some stories about his jobs on his homeworld and on various freighters in the sector over the years. Some of the workers listening had heard the stories before but seemed to enjoy hearing them again, while others were clearly new to the place.

He finished telling a story about a poor young worker who, having never heard of Jaffen's species, had attempted to insult Jaffen's father to no avail.

"Eventually, I finally explained it to him. I'm Norvalian. I don't have a father," he said, everyone in the crowd laughing, except for one of the newer people, a dark skinned humanoid with pointed ears.

"I'm afraid I do not understand," the newcomer said.

"It's… complicated, Mister, um ,"

"Tuvok," the pointy-eared man said.

"Mister Tuvok. It involves a centuries long war, a sterility plague, and some creative genetic research that-" Jaffen stopped when he noticed Kathy Janeway entering the bar, somehow managing to avoid walking into anyone even though her attention seemed glued to her data pads rather than her surroundings. "I'm sorry, Mister Tuvok, perhaps some other time."

"I look forward to hearing it," Tuvok said. "I am interested in learning as much as I can about the histories of the races who are now my co-workers."

"Just remember to always ask nicely," Jaffen said as he moved past his friends towards the table where Kathy was now sitting.

"I thought you didn't have time to socialize," Jaffen said, sitting down across from her.

Kathy looked up with a small smile, but the rest of her face conveying annoyance.

"I'm not socializing," she said, "I'm reviewing these manuals then getting something to eat."

"Well, I recommend the latara broth, and the section on coefficients," Jaffen said. "I can help you with the manuals if you like. We won't be fraternizing."

Kathy looked at him contemplatively for a few seconds then laughed.

"You are not that great at this," she said. "Either you're a lot younger than you look and I'm your first attempt at flirting, or you don't usually try this hard."

"Well, you've got me there," Jaffen said. "Normally once a woman says 'no thanks,' I move on. But there's something about you. Not just your looks, though you are quite lovely, but something in your demeanor. I have to wonder why you're just a low level worker like me. You have an aura around you. I've seen it before. Some of the better freighter captains I've served under had it. The kind of men and women who you followed orders from not because you had to, but because you wanted to."

Kathy tilted her head, as if not sure how to take the compliment.

"So, you have a thing for authority figures?" she eventually said with a smirk. "Maybe you should be pursuing Efficiency Monitor Hansen."

"I doubt her wife would appreciate that," Jaffen said.

"Her wife?"

"I asked around," Jaffen said. "Apparently her and her spouse adopted an alien orphan and live in the higher level apartments. The wife, Samantha I think her name is, works at one of the local biotech companies in the R&D division. Explains why they can afford a place like that so soon after getting here."

"Well, good for her," Kathy said. "Everyone deserves a shot at happiness. Even the officious, nitpicky, micromanaging types."

* * *

Annika Hansen wrapped her arms around her wife's waist while the later worked on cooking whatever it was she was cooking. The smell filled the apartment, but it wasn't unpleasant. Still, she didn't think it needed to be quite that strong. She didn't say so out loud though.

"We can afford a chef, Sammy," Annika said, following up her statement with a kiss to the back of Samantha's neck.

"I know," Sam said, "but like I said the three other times you've brought up this week, I like cooking. I have more control over this stove than the equipment at work."  
Annika sighed.

"They still treat you like a plebe over there? Jerks. You know more about xenobiology than any of those guys."

"I know, Annika, I know. But, humans are still the newbies on Quarra."

Annika had to admit to herself that Sam was right. It could've been worse though, she supposed. It wasn't as though they were discriminated against, or victims of any sort of bias motivated violence. They just hadn't been around long enough to settle in like so many of the other species had. The Quarrens didn't seem to mind one bit that there were whole neighborhoods in the major cities where they could walk around without seeing another one of their own, yet they never showed any sign of being uncomfortable doing it. She just wished Earth had been more like that. She and Sam wouldn't have had to leave. Being a cyborg got you enough dirty looks alone. Being a cyborg _and_ gay…

"But enough about me," Sam said as she began chopping up some purple vegetable Annika didn't recognize. "How was your day, Efficiency Monitor?"

"Only you could make that title sound sexy," Annika said. Sam opened her mouth to reply when the sound of the door to the smaller of the apartment's two bedrooms opened and Naomi, their adopted daughter, came out, rubbing her eyes as she sat at the dinner table.

"You fell asleep while doing your homework, didn't you?" Sam said.

Naomi looked embarrassed. "Yes Momma Sam," she said.

Sam sighed and walked over to the little girl, handing off the knife she was using to cut the vegetables to Annika.

"Hey, it's okay," Sam said, bending down so she and Naomi were face to face. "I told them they were giving you too much study to do for your age, but they didn't listen. I'm not mad. You just need to let me know next time if you get tired early, okay?"

"Okay," Naomi said. The little girl looked up at Annika. "Momma Ann, did you hear? Some more humans started working in the factories today. Do any of them have kids? I'd like to make some friends."

"I did know we got some humans in today sweetie, but I didn't ask any of them if they had kids. It was too busy. If I can find a few minutes tomorrow I can ask around, though."  
Annika liked being around Naomi. As useful as her cybernetic implants were, there were times when she almost felt like they controlled her more than the other way around. Being home however, she truly felt human. That made the sideways glances she'd get from the workers whose errors she'd have to correct worth putting up with.

"I better finish dinner," Sam said. "Why don't you two talk about your days while I finish up?"

"At the very least let me help clean your utensils as you go," Annika said.

"No, no, you don't need to do that. Besides, your job is more physically demanding than mine. Now sit, relax."

Annika sighed, but smiled as she did so. "You're too good for me, Sammy."

* * *

"I can't believe I let you keep me out this late," Kathy said, chuckling as she and Jaffen walked down a flight of stairs.

"Well, I thought it was my responsibility to help you study those manuals," Jaffen said.

"Of course you did," Kathy said, laughing.

"And now that I have," Jaffen continued, "you should be less likely to overload the core."

Kathy chuckled at that as the two of them came around the corner. Even this close to the plant, the air still was surprisingly clean smelling, if a bit cold for her tastes.

"You know," Jaffen said, "with all this fascinating discussion about thermal coefficients you never told me where you're from."

"A planet called Earth," Kathy said.

"Well, I meant where on Earth," Jaffen said. "Judging from the humans I've seen so far it seems like a pretty diverse planet. Different skin tones, body types, even eye shapes. I've met a few species with that kind of diversity, but not that many. Usually in this sector the only real differences between people are gender, height, weight, age, maybe hair and eye color, but that's pretty much it."

"Doesn't matter," Kathy said. "The place is overpopulated, polluted, and not a lot of work."

"Sounds a little like my homeworld," Jaffen said. "Guess we're both lucky to be here."

"It's nice to be a in a place where different species get along so well," Kathy said.

"Oh, so you admit we're getting along," Jaffen said.

Kathy laughed. "I was speaking in a broader cultural context," she said.

"I'm rather impressed you were able to say that while laughing," Jaffen said.

Kathy sighed, and shook her head. "It's just… I mean there's a lot of violence back home."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jaffen said.

Kathy pulled her coat tighter around here.

"The nights get so cold around here," she said. "Reminds me of Bloomington during the winter time."

"Bloomington?"

"The city where I grew up, on Earth."

"I like the name. Every major city on my homeworld is named after either some boring scientist or some pompous politician."

"We have cities like that too," Kathy said. "My favorite city name though, and I do kinda regret never visiting it to see what it was like before I left, was a place called Truth or Consequences."

Jaffen laughed. "Really?"

"I shit you not," Kathy said.

"I assume that's human slang for 'I really mean it,'" Jaffen said.

"It's almost curfew," one of a pair of Quarren policemen said. Kathy had to turn around to see them, glad she'd noticed them out the corner of her eye earlier or they might've spooked her. They were armed of course, but the way their coats covered their holsters it was clear they didn't expect, or maybe even didn't want to be able to reach them. The one who had spoken was smiling at them. He probably figured they were heading home.

"We just live over there," Jaffen said, pointing towards the tallest of the housing complexes off in the distance.

"Okay," the officer said. "Have a great night." He and his partner turned around and headed back up the street.

"That's another thing Quarra has over Earth," Kathy said. "The police around here don't walk around like they expect every single one of us to attack them at a moment's notice."

"You know, I do have a spectacular view of the river from my living quarters," Jaffen said.

"Well, seeing as I live in the same building, I can see the river too," Kathy said, which was mostly true. She could see the river nearby. But really only during the day, when she had to be leaving for work shortly, and thus could never really take the time to appreciate it. At night, it was damn near impossible except for the occasions when a police hovercar would happen to pass over it.

"I really have to get to sleep," Kathy said, rubbing her hands together to warm them up. "Maybe another time?" she said.

Jaffen smiled. "For a moment I was afraid I was making you uncomfortable," he said.

"Trust me," Kathy said, lightly touching Jaffen on the arm. "That's a good thing."

* * *

"Son of a-" Kathy said as an alarm noise went off while she worked on her station. It took her a moment to realize the alarm sound was different, and no one seemed bothered by it. A few people didn't even look up from their work, while others headed towards one end of the work floor.

"It's not an alarm," Jaffen said, coming up to Kathy from the side, making sure she saw him coming. She appreciated not being snuck up on. "It's time for our inoculations."

"What inoculations?" Kathy said.

"You didn't know? It's routine, they give 'em out free of charge to employees here. It's to protect against any ambient radiation. Seems a bit overkill to me. I've never seen any sign of radioactivity around here. The safety equipment may look old, but it's solid. Trust me, I checked. First thing I did when I started here. I've worked a few freighters with lax standards before, so I know shoddy safety procedures when I see them."

"I feel like I should've been told this earlier," Kathy said. "Why isn't everyone-"

"Some of the species who found their way here for work have natural immunities. No point in giving them an inoculant against something that can't hurt them anyway."

"Good point."

Kathy walked with Jaffen to get in line for the inoculations. Up ahead she saw Annika Hansen, and ahead of her, the dark-skinned, pointy-eared man Jaffen had been talking to at the bar a few days ago. He seemed jittery, and when the employee with the injectors went to give him his inoculation, he flinched.

"That's odd," Jaffen said. "Tuvok never struck me as the nervous type."

"Friend of yours?" Kathy said.

"Not really," Jaffen said. "I met him the day before I met you. He's also new here. His people are called Vulcans, if I remember right."

Tuvok got out of line and headed back towards his work station, but even from this distance Kathy could tell he looked shaken.

"Could he be having a reaction to the inoculation? He doesn't look too good."

"Maybe," Jaffen said. "It hasn't happened before. Can you keep my place in line? I'm gonna check on him."

"Okay," Kathy said.

* * *

After a five-day trading mission with a race called the Nar Shaddan, Chakotay, Neelix, and Harry Kim, all aboard the _Delta Flyer_ were en route back to _Voyager_. However, only Chakotay was in the cockpit. Neelix and Harry were in the rear compartment, the former looking over the latter, who clutched his stomach as he lay on the extending biobed, grateful that Tom had included one in the ship's design.

"In six years," Harry said, "I've never been on an away mission worse than this one."

"That's just the stomach pain talking," Neelix said. "These parasites are certainly causing you trouble, but off the top of my head I can think of several instances where you went through far worse than some mild food poisoning."

"Mild?" Harry said, curled in a fetal position. "You call this mild? My ankle didn't hurt this much after getting a bulkhead dropped on it."

"Case in point," Neelix said. "The Year of Hell was really more pleasant than this?"

"That wasn't an away mission," Harry said.

"Okay, you got me there."

"Why did you let me drink that Falah nectar?" Harry said.

"I did try to warn you it wasn't safe," Neelix said.

"With hand signals, that I couldn't see," Harry groaned.

"I didn't want to risk offending our hosts," Neelix added, sheepishly.

"I should've just said I was a strict vegetarian like Chakotay," Harry said.

"In my defense," Neelix said, "I had no idea the meat they used to make that drink was raw. If I had, I'd have risked the insult. Clearly Nar Shaddan stomachs are far sturdier than human ones."

The comm chirped, and Chakotay's voice summoned both of them to the cockpit, apologizing to Harry as he did so.

"Let me help you up, Lieutenant," Neelix said.

"Thanks," Harry said, taking Neelix's arm. The two slowly walked their way up to the cockpit, a mercifully short journey, but the steps made Harry felt like he going to vomit each time his foot landed.

He eased into the chair by the tactical console while Neelix took sensors.

"What is it, Commander?" Harry said.

"We're at the rendezvous coordinates," Chakotay said, "but there's no sign of _Voyager_ , and they're not responding to hails. Start scanning on all frequencies."

"Got it," Neelix said.

"They've got to be out there somewhere," Chakotay said.

Harry thought for a moment about suggesting that maybe they weren't; that the worst had happened and they'd been destroyed, or at least been forced to flee. He decided that pessimism was the result of the alien parasites doing metaphorical backflips in his stomach, and kept the opinion to himself.

"I think I have their warp trail," Neelix said. "I'm also picking up residual energy signatures. Weapons fire, maybe?"

Harry looked at his own console.

"Good catch, Neelix," he said.

"I'm plotting a course to follow the trail," Chakotay said.

"Long range sensors are picking up a nebula a few light years ahead. I can't pick up anything inside it, which means it'd be a good place to hide," Harry said.

"That also means we're going to have to be really careful following them in," Chakotay said. "I'd hate to find them by running into them."

"What about who they were fighting?" Neelix said.

"The weapons fire signature was degraded," Harry said. "Another few hours we wouldn't have picked it up at all. Whatever happened happened days ago."

The _Delta Flyer_ entered the nebula, visibility severely reduced, but the ship's Borg tech enhanced sensors cut through the interference fairly easily.

"Guess whoever the attackers were," Harry said, "they didn't have sensors as good as ours."

"Then how did they get the upper hand?" Neelix asked.

"Numbers, most likely," Chakotay said. "A technologically inferior foe can still hurt us if there are too many of them to fight."

"I found _Voyager_ ," Harry said. "Hull's mostly intact, no serious hull breaches, but she took one hell of a beating."

"Lifesigns?" Chakotay said.

Harry winced, as much from the pain as from the results of his scan.

"None," he said. "But, all the escape pods are gone, so maybe…"

"Maybe the crew is okay? We can certainly hope," Chakotay said. "Can we beam over?"

"Affirmative," Harry said. "We'll have to do it that way since I can't get the shuttle bay doors open from here."

"Stay here and wait for the doors to open," Chakotay said. "Neelix, you're with me."

"Yes, Commander," Neelix said.

"We'll beam to the bridge," Chakotay said, "we can, or at least should be able to, access all systems from there, plus maybe the ship's logs can tell us what happened."

* * *

After putting on environmental suits, in case life support was one of the systems off-line, and readying phasers just to be safe, Chakotay and Neelix transported from the _Flyer_ over to _Voyager_. The bridge was empty, and the only illumination came from the glow of exposed EPS conduits.

"Looks like someone was trying to do repairs," Neelix said.

"Agreed," Chakotay said. He looked around and wondered if the work had been done before they abandoned ship, or if some one had stayed behind. If the latter was the case though, why hadn't the _Flyer's_ sensors picked them up? _Unless they'd died while trying to fix the ship_ , he thought.

Chakotay motioned for Neelix to follow him to the auxiliary engineering console on the bridge.

"I'm going to see if I can get the main power back on line from here," Chakotay said. "It's possible they powered everything down to help them hide. Otherwise we'll need to replace some power conduits by hand."

Chakotay began manipulating the controls, grateful that there was some power going to the console, while Neelix knelt down to put a panel back in place, since the conduit behind it was clearly in working condition.

"Stop what you're doing and turn around!" Chakotay heard someone yell from behind him. He thought it might the Doctor's voice but the helmet muffled the sound somewhat. He did as he was told and motioned for Neelix to do the same. It was the Doctor, a wristlight pointed at them, and a phaser in his other hand. He also had a red uniform on, meaning that for the first time, the real Emergency Command Hologram protocols had been activated.

"Doctor," Neelix said, "It's us. Neelix and Commander Chakotay."

The Doctor smiled and lowered the phaser. "It's good to see some friendly faces. Heck, it's good to see any faces at all."

"Have you been doing repairs all by yourself?" Chakotay asked.

"I'm afraid so. Sorry I haven't gotten life support back up yet, but since I was the only one here it wasn't a priority."

"Makes sense," Neelix said.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Chakotay asked. "I'll take the short version for now. I can do a full debrief once we get the air circulating again."

"Roughly twelve hours after you left," the Doctor said, "we hit some sort of subspace mine. It wasn't long before I was inundated with casualties, all suffering from tetryon radiation."

"Did you try using the Jetrel inoculation?" Neelix said.

"That only works if you inject before exposure," The Doctor said. "I treated the patients as best I could but the ship was still flooding with radiation. Captain Janeway gave the order to abandon ship, since the warp drive was off-line. She ordered me to stay behind and activated the ECH program. The plan was to get the crew out of the radiated area and find the nearest habitable planet. I was to stay with the ship and try to get all the radiation vented while the distress signal was active. Either I could get it done and pick them up myself, or someone would come to help and I'm the only crewmember who could survive that kind of prolonged exposure, seeing as I'm a hologram."

"What happened next?" Chakotay said. "Why is _Voyager_ in the nebula?"

"I never even got the chance to start the repairs before things went sideways," The Doctor said. Shortly after all the escape pods were launched, an alien vessel showed up and immediately locked onto the ship with a tractor beam. I hailed them immediately of course. The captain of the alien vessel tried to claim Voyager as salvage and that it belonged to him, even though I was clearly in command."

"Probably figured since you don't have lifesigns," Neelix said, "that you don't count. I'd chalk it up to a salvage rights dispute, but he was there way too quickly. I bet he planted that mine."

"My thoughts exactly," Chakotay said. "I assume you tried to fight back?"

"I did," The Doctor said, showing a hint of pride in his expression. "I was able to take out the enemy vessel's tractor emitter and engines with phasers." He frowned. "That's about when the other two ships showed up."

"What happened to the escape pods?" Neelix asked.

"I don't know. I can only assume they were taken. Or at least I hope they were. I was able to evade the other two ships and hid in this nebula. I eventually got the warp drive back on-line and the radiation vented, but every time I tried to leave the nebula I detected more ships searching for me."

"Any idea who they are?" Chakotay said.

"Not any race we've encountered yet," The Doctor said.

"So either someone wanted to capture us based on our reputation," Chakotay said, "Or we just had the bad luck to stumble on a pirate operation. I could believe either, frankly."

"What's our next move, Commander?" Neelix said.

"Get life support back on-line, get Harry's stomach taken care of, then we go find our people," Chakotay said.

* * *

Tuvok was nervous. He didn't like feeling nervous. He was starting to realize he didn't like feeling anything. He felt as though if he didn't merely control but suppress his emotions he might lose his mind. He watched the woman, Kathy Janeway, at her station. He was sure he knew her. Not just from the bar after work, where he had said hello to her once, or from what Jaffen had said about her. He knew her before coming to Quarra, somehow. That shouldn't have been possible. The only other planet he'd known before this place was Vulcan, and there were no humans there.

He winced and closed his eyes, and had another vision like the one he'd had before getting his inoculation yesterday. He was wearing a different uniform than his work one. He saw Janeway on a hospital bed, wearing a similar uniform, but with a different color on the shoulders.

"We're going to treat your injuries," a Quarren doctor said to Janeway.

 _This is too vivid, it can't be just a dream or a hallucination. Can it?_ Tuvok thought.

He was sure he'd seen the doctor in his vision around before. Kadan, his name was. He was sure of that.

The vision persisted, and Tuvok saw himself struggling to get out of his own hospital bed as a device of some kind was placed over Janeway's head. He heard himself demand that the doctor stop. Why, he had no idea.

"Release her immediately," he heard himself say.

"Restrain him," Doctor Kadan said.

Tuvok felt the strong arms of two Quarren guards grabbing his own, when the vision went away and he, abruptly, was snapped back to reality.

 _Or the present if that was something that really happened,_ he thought. He felt sweaty, and anxious. He looked around, wondering why no supervisor had come to talk with him about standing around yet. Perhaps he hadn't been staring at Janeway as long as he'd thought.

He saw Efficiency Monitor Hansen in his peripheral vision, but she wasn't looking at him. Yet.

 _Best not to annoy Seven of Nine_ , he thought. He moved to get back to work, but then stopped.

 _Why did I think of her as Seven of Nine? What does that mean?_

"You all right, Tuvok?" Tuvok turned and saw Jaffen behind him.

"What? Yes, sorry. I… I am not feeling well," Tuvok said, which was mostly true. He liked Jaffen, but didn't want to tell him he thought he was hallucinating. He doubted they'd let him keep working here if the higher ups knew.

"Oh," Jaffen said. "Do you want me to help you get to the infirmary?"

"No," Tuvok said, a bit more forcefully than he'd wanted to, surprising even himself. "I mean, not yet. I can still work at my station. If it gets any worse I'll go right away. I promise."

Jaffen looked like he didn't entirely believe him, but merely shrugged.

"If you say so," he said, and walked away.

* * *

"First officer's log, Stardate 54597.9," Chakotay said, working while he talked. Neelix had poked fun at him earlier for keeping up with his logs, but it wasn't mean spirited. In fact, Chakotay wondered himself why he did it too. He thought maybe it was to keep himself from letting his mind wander to thoughts of what could be happening to the rest of the crew. He knew deep down that once he started to think that, he would inevitably start thinking the worst.

"After restoring primary systems," he continued, "we have left the nebula to try and find the crew. Although there's still a lot of damage, we've been able to reconfigure our sensors to detect subspace mines based on the data collected by the ship's sensors once we got full power restored. Lieutenant Kim has been running continuous scans, but there's still no sign of our people. On the bright side, the ships that were searching for us seem to have given up."

Chakotay stopped as the computer voice announced that power to the secondary propulsion systems had been restored.

 _Good work, Doctor_ , he thought. He wondered briefly how Harry was doing in astrometrics, but figured if he'd found anything he would contact the bridge immediately. Chakotay finished his log entry as the manual work he was doing finally paid off and full lighting was restored to the bridge.

"And the Commander said, 'let there be light," he said to himself. He was not normally one to joke on the bridge, but he figured with no one around to judge…

The turbolift door opened and the Doctor, still in command reds, walked out.

"I've repaired the deuterium injectors," he said, not waiting for Chakotay to ask for a report. "Anything else you need?"

"Could you get to work on the ruptured plasma conduits on deck 10?"

"Of course, Commander. Hopefully once this is over I can get back to my regular uniform."

"Why not do it now?" Chakotay said. "I don't see why the ECH program would stop you."

"It doesn't stop me from switching back to EMH if that's what you mean," the Doctor said. "But I only have access to the Captain's codes while in ECH mode, and ECH mode comes with the red uniform and the 4 pips."

"So technically you outrank me," Chakotay said "Surprised you haven't started giving me orders."

"Yes, well," the Doctor said, "if I had more people to work with I might do that. I feel like my place should be on the bridge, but I also know there are only four of us."

"If your program is telling you to take charge," Chakotay said, "maybe you should. Isn't that what we designed it for?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Maybe if I didn't have the ship's first officer aboard I would. I'd better get to work on those conduits."

"Kim to Chakotay," Harry Kim's voice said over the comm.

"Go ahead," Chakotay and the Doctor said in unison. The Doctor looked sheepish, but Chakotay just smiled. _He'll get the hang of it_ , he thought.

"I've found them" Harry said, "An M-class planet, about three days away at maximum warp."

"Transfer the coordinates to the helm," Chakotay said. He stood up. "Doctor, you have the bridge."

"Oh. Okay," the Doctor said, reluctantly taking the center seat.

* * *

Three days later, Chakotay found himself in a position he knew that many of ancestors had faced in the past. That of desperately wishing he could punch a government official in the face.

"I have personally interviewed several of the individuals named on your crew manifest. None of them know who you are," the Quarren bureaucrat on the screen said, sounding like a parent who'd just caught a child in a fib. It had taken hours to get even the man to listen to him in the first place, and now this. He looked at the Doctor, sitting at the helm, and Harry at tactical. If it weren't for the half dozen well armed battle stations in orbit, he'd consider just giving the order to launch an all out rescue mission.

"Nor have they heard of a starship _Voyager_."

"I'd like to speak to them myself," Chakotay said, not explicitly saying he didn't believe the Quarren, but hoping it came across in his tone.

"That's not possible," the Quarren official said.

"If you're telling the truth," Chakotay said, allowing some of his anger through more to keep it from exploding than to intimidate the official, "you have nothing to lose by letting us talk to them."

"Unlike other planets in this system, we grant our guest workers full protection under our laws."

"What exactly are you protecting them from?" The Doctor asked.

"Unscrupulous individuals attempting to acquire skilled laborers," the Quarren said.

"We're not trying to acquire laborers," The Doctor said, shouting. "We're trying to find our friends!"

Chakotay started to think of a way to ask the Doctor to calm down without giving the Quarren the impression that he was facing a divided crew, small as it was, but the Quarren responded quickly, with a statement that to Chakotay's mind sounded at least partially practiced.

"Most of your friends have excellent positions in the Central Power Facility in the capitol. Why would any of them want to travel thousands of light years to a planet on the other side of the galaxy when they have safe, comfortable lives right here?"

"Because it isn't their home," Chakotay said, knowing full well that it wouldn't mean anything to the official.

"I suggest you look elsewhere to increase your labor supply," the Quarren said. "If you attempt to disturb any of our citizens, we will respond with force." With that, the communication line cut out.

"What an asshole," Harry said.

"Any luck with the scans?" Chakotay said.

"There's no way to beam through their shield grid. This is one of the most well protected planets I've seen in my life."

Chakotay sighed. "Take us out of orbit."

"We're not leaving them behind," the Doctor said, sounding hurt.

"No," Chakotay said. "But I want these people to think we are."

"Do you already have a plan, Commander?" Harry asked.

"I think so," Chakotay said. "Chakotay to Neelix."

"Yes, Commander?" Neelix replied over comms. Chakotay was glad that the Talaxian wasn't on the bridge during the conversation. That gave him an advantage he could use to help get the crew back.

"I know it's been awhile, but is your old ship still flyable?"

"A few containers fell on it during the fight with whoever planted the mines," Neelix said, "but all the damage is cosmetic. Why do you ask?"

* * *

The kiss felt like it had gone on for hours, but when Kathy looked at the clock she saw it hadn't even been two minutes.

"Wow," she said.

"Well put," Jaffen said.

"So, was that better or worse than the coffee?" Kathy said, jokingly,

"Ooh, tough call," Jaffen said with a wink. "You know. If your homeworld makes drinks like that I'm amazed you ever left."

Kathy laughed.

"Caffeine is responsible for the industrial revolution," she said.

"Is that a literal or metaphorical revolution?" Jaffen said. "'Cause I've seen both in my travels."

Kathy laughed. "I can explain later." She leaned in to Jaffen, and sighed as he hugged her close.

 _I can't remember ever feeling this comfortable before_ , she thought.

* * *

Samantha Wildman sighed as she heard Naomi get up, leave her room, and start moving around the kitchen.

"Honey, stop," she said.

"What's wrong?" Annika said.

"The kid's awake."

"So?" Seven said, smirking as she wiped her lips on the bedsheet.

"I don't want her to hear us," Samantha said.

"You don't want her to know her parents have a healthy and active sex life?"

"Well, yes, but, I mean, shit, look, can you at least see what she's doing in the kitchen?" Samantha shifted her body on the bed so she could kiss Annika on the mouth. "I promise I'll still be wearing my birthday suit when you get back."

Annika sighed. "You better be," she said in a mock threatening tone, never losing her smile as she did so.

She opened the door, loosely closing her robe even though she didn't really care that much what if anything her kid saw. The "talk" was going to have to come sooner or later, and Naomi seemed mature enough to be able to handle it.

"Hey kiddo," she said to Naomi, who was taking a mug with some steam coming from it off the cooking console.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I woke you up Momma Annie. I just had trouble sleeping, and one of the other kids at school said his mom uses this drink called tea. I thought I'd give it a try."

"Well, okay," Annika said, stepping forward and looking down into the mug. "It's hot though so be very, very careful. And don't drink it in bed. Here," she added, pulling out two of the chairs at the dinner table. She sat in one and motioned for Naomi to take the other, which she did, smiling, obviously glad that she wasn't in trouble.

"So, why did you have trouble sleeping? Bad dream?"

"Sort of," Naomi said. "It was really weird. I dreamt I was on a spaceship, with you and Momma Sam, and you were wearing these neat looking uniforms. And I had a big brother, who was a cyborg too."

"Oh really?" Annika said, amused at her adopted child's vivid imagination. "What was your big brother's name?"

Naomi frowned. "I can't remember."

"That's okay sweetie, most people can't remember their dreams. And those that do tend to really only remember the really weird parts."

"It felt really real though," Naomi said. "Like we really lived on a spaceship. And Momma Sam was my real Mom, and I was only half-alien."

Annika patted Naomi on the shoulder. "You should write all this stuff down, kid. You've got quite the imagination there, I bet you could be a writer someday."

"Do they have writers on Quarra?" Naomi said. "All the books at school are textbooks."

"I don't know actually," Annika said. "I'll look into it. But for now, you go ahead and try your tea and go back to bed, okay?"

"Okay."

Naomi took a sip of her tea, said it was gross, put the cup back on the cooking console to be recycled, and went back to her room. Annika watched her as she did all this, but couldn't help but ponder what Naomi had said.

 _You know_ , she thought, _I actually do see some of Sam in her. I hadn't thought of it before_. She shook her head, not wanting to think about it anymore. It was probably just her seeing things based on Naomi's dream. She went back to her room, Samantha waiting exactly as she'd promised.

"Now, where were we?" Annika said.

* * *

"Any progress?" Chakotay said as he entered astrometrics, The Doctor close behind him. Neelix turned from the console to face Chakotay.

"I've spoken to the captains of eight vessels that have left Quarra in the past two weeks," Neelix said. "None of them knew anything about our crew, but every single one of them offered me a job. Apparently there's a severe labor shortage in this system and a lot of competition for workers."

"That explains a lot about what the Quarren official was telling us," Chakotay said. "And that's also our in. Neelix, get your ship ready. Doctor, I'm going to need some cosmetic surgery."

"Why?" The Doctor said, sounding concerned.

"I've already spoke to several government officials on that planet. They know what all of us look like, except for Neelix since he wasn't on the bridge. I need to look like another alien if I'm going to get down there."

"I can only alter you cosmetically," The Doctor said. "If they do a full DNA scan-"

"I doubt they'd risk turning away a potential employee if the labor shortage is as severe as I'm led to believe," Neelix said.

"So, Neelix and I are going to be a couple of Talaxians looking for work," Chakotay said.

"I bet we'll make a striking pair," Neelix said, smiling.

"I'm not sure your skin is equipped to deal with Talaxian facial hair," The Doctor said, "but we can give it a try. Worst case scenario, I can go for something easier to reverse later, like Icheb's species, or a Bajoran perhaps."

"Let's get on that then," Chakotay said, leaving astrometrics, not bothering to tell the others to follow him as they were already falling in behind him.

""I'll also give you both subdermal transponders so we can transport you through the shield grid if there's trouble," The Doctor said.

"How would that work?" Chakotay said. "Their shields aren't exactly like ours. Mister Kim explained it to me in detail, but suffice it to say, unlike our shields which can only be beamed through with superior technology, theirs can't block a concentrated enough signal."

"Good thinking," Chakotay said.

"I think the Lieutenant deserves a share of the credit," The Doctor said, "but thank you."

"You'll be in charge until we get back," Chakotay added.

"Are you sure, Commander?" The Doctor said.

"If you're worried about Harry, he'll know better than to put his ego above the ship. Besides, he helped design the ECH program,so he knows what you're capable of. He'll follow your orders same as if you were me or Captain Janeway."

"Well, all the same, I'm certainly going to keep an open mind to any suggestions he may have."

* * *

Annika Hansen didn't think this was anything for her to worry about. Despite the employe she was told to go talk to having skipped his last few inoculations, her records showed his work had not suffered, at least not yet. Slower than it had been, yes, but that was from a starting point of him easily eclipsing most of his peers. Tuvok, a.k.a. Employee #8583, could probably run this place as well as if not better than current management with some more time and experience.

But orders were orders, so go to speak with him she did. She'd been in line behind him once before, so she was sure she knew exactly what the issue was; his fear of needles. Maybe some subtle threats about unemployment would spur this Tuvok character to get over it and go to the infirmary.

She walked up to him, noticed that he seemed to be gripping the side of his console far too hard, and became somewhat worried. She let none of that into her voice though, keeping her usual calm, even robotic demeanor as she spoke the employee's number, and then name when he didn't respond.

"According to records," she continued, "you have neglected to report for your last two inoculations."

Tuvok did not respond, but slowly turned his head to look at her. He appeared to be sweaty.

"The inoculations are for your protection," Annika said. "A sick worker is not an efficient worker. Report to the infirmary immediately."

Tuvok looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time.

 _He must be getting sick_ , she thought. _I may need to call for help to get him to the infirmary if it isn't too late._

"Seven. Of nine," Tuvok said.

"What?" Annika said.

"Seven of nine. It's your designation," Tuvok said, starting to shake somewhat, the sweat on his brow becoming more noticeable.

"My employee number is 8586," Annika said. Tuvok grabbed her so quick she hadn't realized his hand was on her face and that one of the other workers was calling for security until she was pushed up against Tuvok's console, his other arm gripping hers.

"What are you-"

She stopped talking when she saw something, like a vivid memory. Herself, in what looked liked a large room, shelves with massive containers on one side, and technology not unlike that of her cybernetic implants lining the wall behind her. A young man, possibly a teenage boy, with visible cybernetics of his own was sitting on the ground, playing a game with Naomi.

She snapped back to reality in time to hear Tuvok say to her as guards pulled him off her, "I don't believe you are who you think you are!"

Annika slumped down, feeling drained despite the fact that all Tuvok had done as far as she could tell was grab her arm and touch the side of her face.

As the guards dragged Tuvok towards the infirmary, the other employees staring, the employees she recognized as Jaffen and Kathy Janeway came over to ask her if she was okay.

"What the hell was that all about?" Kathy said as Annika waved off her support.

" _WE DON'T BELONG HERE! WE DON'T BELONG HERE! THIS ISN'T RIGHT! WE DON'T BELONG HERE!_ " Tuvok's voice carried through the room even with the door closed.

"I should've said something," Jaffen said. "I noticed he was acting weird the other day, but I thought maybe he'd just had a rough day."

"He missed some inoculations," Annika said, calming herself down, and wondering if she should tell her wife about this, not wanting her to worry but not wanting to hide things from her either. "Likely this is a result of radiation sickness."

 _Was that vision a result of his sickness too?_ she thought. _What did he do to you? And why did you see the boy from Naomi's dream, her imaginary big brother? Tuvok may be sick, but that doesn't mean there isn't something going on._

Annika wondered why her own inner voice was so willing to accept what was obviously the ramblings of a disturbed and likely radiation poisoned individual, but despite that, she didn't hesitate to withhold the vision when speaking to her superiors about the incident later.

Kathy and Jaffen offered to walk her home, but she declined. Walking towards her apartment after end of shift, she decided she would tell Samantha about what had happened, but not mention the vision to her either. At least not yet.

* * *

"Qualification Level 3 in microkinetics," the supervisor said to Chakotay as he followed him down a flight of stairs in the main power facility, the place where he was led to believe most of _Voyager's_ crew had ended up. "You could use some improvement in that area, Mister Kotay."

"I appreciate the honesty," Chakotay said, responding to the alias that Neelix had provided him; Amal Kotay. "I imagine some people in your position would overlook something like that during a labor shortage."

"Level 3 is still better than average," the supervisor said. "I see you are Level 5 in thermionic conversion though. That's the main reason you're here and not at a less crucial facility. We lost a thermionic specialist yesterday."

"Did he find a better job?" Chakotay asked.

"Health problems," the supervisor said. "Developed some minor radiation poisoning and attacked our Efficiency Monitor."

"Oh no," Chakotay said.

"She's fine, but we gave her the day off. She seemed a bit shaken up by the experience. My own superiors didn't like it, but I figured a day with the wife and kid would do her some good. She may act like a robot when she's on the clock, but she's as fragile as any other sentient."

 _The Efficiency Monitor must be Seven of Nine_ , Chakotay thought, as he happened to glance to his right and see one of the Delaney twins walk right past him without recognizing him. She wasn't the only _Voyager_ crewmember he'd seen today who didn't seem to know who either he or Neelix were since they'd arrived last night. He doubted his Talaxian disguise was that good, and none of them seemed to recognize Neelix either. Whatever the Quarrens had done to them was brutally effective. He just hoped it was reversible.

"Someone you know?" the supervisor said.

"No, just, never seen her species before," he said.

"We have a diverse workforce here. Megan over there is from a species called Human. We got an influx of them a few weeks ago. I don't think I've ever seen a species with so much variety in skin pigmentation. But enough about alien biology. Your workstation is over here."

"Thank you," Chakotay said.

"You'll be required to report your readings to the Controller at regular intervals," the supervisor said. "Small variations are common, so unless the reading is off by more than one third of a percent, you can ignore it. Helps save space on the data readers."

Chakotay was about to respond when he saw Captain Janeway, wearing one of the standard work uniforms, happily going about her own job at a workstation not too far from the one he'd been assigned to.

"Are you listening to me?" the supervisor said, and Chakotay realized that he'd been staring.

 _Damn, I can't believe I did that_ , he thought. _I hope I didn't compromise the mission._

"I'm sorry sir," he said, "I'm just excited to be here."

The supervisor looked at Janeway, and back at Chakotay. "Right. Well, just so you know, we don't allow fraternizing on work hours. Also, she's already spoken for, but you didn't hear that from me."

"Oh?" Chakotay said, reflexively, and immediately wished he hadn't.

"Yeah. Jaffen. Good guy. You'll like him too. One of the best people we've got around here."

Chakotay decided to play along, and laugh as though the supervisor had read his reaction to seeing the Captain alive correctly.

"Well, thanks for saving me from embarrassing myself," he said.

"No problem," the supervisor said. "This station has been vacant for a few hours now so you're going to have to work harder than we usually let new hires do, so I'll get out of your way."

"I'll get right on it," Chakotay said, wondering what his next move was going to be.

* * *

Neelix hoped that how weird the situation felt wasn't showing as his face as talked to Tom Paris at the bar. It was Tom, he'd introduced himself as such, but apart from that and his basic personality, everything about the man was different. Neelix noticed that as they spoke he kept glancing over at B'Elanna Torres, sitting with a couple who apparently were expecting a child of their own at the other side of the establishment.

"At the end of the day, losing my job at the power plant was the best thing that ever happened to me," Paris said as he handed drinks to a pair of patrons. "So many rules and regulations. It was like a military operation."

"I know what you mean," Neelix said. "Report here, reroute power there; almost like serving a aboard a starship." He put a slight emphasis on the word starship, wondering if that would trigger any memories in Tom, hoping that whatever the Quarrens had done to them wasn't permanent.

 _In my experience, the more thorough the brainwashing, the less effective the brainwashed_ , Neelix had thought to himself earlier, and this was as good a time as any to test that.

"Have you ever done that?" Tom asked.

"You're looking at the former captain of his own cargo vessel," Neelix said.

"Mmm. Must be quite a life," Tom said.

"You ever work on a ship, Tom?" Neelix said.

Tom scoffed. "Hell no. Space travel makes me sick. I was practically asleep the whole way here."

"So, do you know most of the people who come in here?" Neelix asked.

"A lot of them," Tom said, after being briefly distracted by the sound of B'Elanna laughing. "This is a great place to work."

"Seems like it," Neelix said.

"If you'd like I could put in a good for you to my employer," Tom said. "I'm not sure what it is about you, but you seem like someone comfortable around food or drink."

"Well, I know a few people that might beg to differ on that," Neelix said.

"Ah, Neelix," he heard Chakotay's voice say, and he turned to see that Chakotay had entered the bar while he and Tom were talking.

"I was wondering when you'd get here," Neelix said, "Amal Kotay, this is my new friend, Tom Paris."

Having to act like they didn't know any of their crewmates had been easier on him than he'd thought, and so far it looked like Chakotay had been handling it well too, but he doubted they could keep it up forever before one of them slipped up. They needed to find out what had happened and get their people back quickly. He hoped Chakotay had more to go on than he did.

"What can I get ya?" Tom said.

Chakotay pointed at Neelix's drink. "That looks good."

"I'll get you one, Tom said, heading a few feet off and turning around. Neelix leaned in and whispered.

"I was assigned to the primary fusion chamber. Mulcahey and Tal were there too. Neither of them recognized me."

"I think at this point we should just assume everyone on the crew has had their memories tampered with," Chakotay whispered back.

"And they all seem to really love their jobs," Neelix said.

"It's like they've all been programmed to be happy here," Chakotay said.

"Here you go," Tom said, handing a drink to Chakotay.

"Thank you," Chakotay said.

"Hey there," a voice Neelix didn't recognize said. He turned to see Captain Janeway and a man he didn't know standing behind them. "I'm Jaffen, this is Kathy. You two look like you're new here."

"We are," Chakotay said. I'm Amal Kotay, and this my friend Neelix."

"Friend?" Tom said. "Figured you two for brothers."

"Hmm, nah," Jaffen said, smiling, "I don't see it."

"Would you two care to join us?" Kathy said.

"Uh, actually I was hoping we could eat alone tonight," Jaffen said, gently placing his hands on Janeway's shoulders.

 _I wonder if he's been tampered with like the others_ , Neelix thought. _If he and the Captain became this close after the memory alterations, then maybe we should consider bringing him with us._

"Some other time perhaps," Chakotay said.

As Jaffen and the Captain walked away, Neelix saw Tom quickly move from behind the bar. He watched as he offered to walk B'Elanna home.

"Apparently," Neelix whispered to Chakotay, "whatever was done to their memories, they aren't together. He thinks she's carrying another man's baby, someone who walked out on her. In a way, it's almost like watching their courtship happen all over again. With a lot less arguing this time. Tom doesn't even realize he's trying to become a stepdad to his own offspring."

"If she's walking home alone," Chakotay said, "this could be our chance to get someone back to _Voyager_. Maybe find some clue as to what happened and develop a treatment for the others."

"Not going to lie, Commander. I know we're doing it for the right reasons, but essentially kidnapping a pregnant woman…"

"It feels gross to me too, for what it's worth," Chakotay said. "I'll try to get ahead of her. See if you can be seen following her without looking like you're trying to be seen." Without another word, Chakotay headed out, and Neelix followed close behind.

* * *

Chakotay had meant what he said to Neelix. Though if pressed, he would admit that calling how he felt about this "gross" was actually an understatement.

Taking short cuts through several alleys, walking at a steady clip when he was sure someone was watching, but running when he was sure they weren't, he got ahead of B'Elanna quickly enough. He saw her look nervously behind her at a following Neelix.

While looking back, she walked right into Chakotay.

"Oh, excuse me," B'Elanna said nervously. Not the reaction Chakotay normally expected from her when they got in her way.

"I'm sorry," Chakotay said.

"It's.. it's okay, I should really watch where I'm going." She watched Neelix walk past her, looking forward, and sighed.

"B'Elanna," Chakotay said. She turned around.

"How do you know my name?"

"It's a long story," Chakotay said. "I just want you to know, that we're really sorry we have to do this."

Neelix had come back around while Chakotay had B'Elanna distracted, and wrapped his arms around her. Instead of fighting back like she normally would, which meant Neelix had little trouble holding on despite the fact that were she her regular self he'd be on the ground in severe pain by now, she started screaming for security.

" _Voyager_ , we've got B'Elanna," Chakotay said. "Lock on to Neelix's signal and beam them to sickbay."

"Acknowledged," Harry's voice replied.

"Help me!" B'Elanna cried out, her face going pale with terror. Chakotay felt as though his guilt were literally punching him in the stomach. Hopefully once the Doctor fixed whatever had been done to her memories she would focus her anger on the Quarrens, and not on him and Neelix for grabbing her like this.

"Let her go!" A Quarren security guard yelled out, his weapon pointed at the three of them as the transporter beam locked onto Neelix and B'Elanna. The second guard aimed the beam of his flashlight at Chakotay's face, clearly trying to blind him, but Chakotay was able to avoid it, and he bolted around a corner, not wanting to get shot before they could beam him out too.

"Stop!" the first guard yelled.

"Harry, I need an emergency transport, now!" When the channel opened, Chakotay heard the sound of the red alert klaxons in the background.

"Sorry, Commander," Harry said. "We're under attack. I had to raise shields."

"Dammit," Chakotay muttered. "All right, get _Voyager_ to safety. I'll figure something out. Go!" He closed the channel without waiting to hear Harry's response, and kept running. He ran for several minutes, his breath becoming winded, but the security guards were clearly in better shape than their uniforms had led him to believe. He found himself at an open platform, and swore. Only a railing, and a view of the city ahead of him. The only way down from here without going back the way he came would be a fast but lethal one.  
He looked around, and saw a panel that he hoped he could use to sabotage the lights and get past the pursuing guards in the confusion. He found a loose pipe, and used it to smash the panel. Lights went out, and so did a force field around the railing that he hadn't even realized was there. He wondered if it was always in place as additional accident prevention, or had to put up by security to prevent his escape. He supposed it didn't matter, and he got into position, waiting for his chance to get past the guards. Maybe he could knock one out and take his weapon.

 _Here's hoping their guns have stun settings_ , he thought.

A lone guard came up to the platform, flashlight in one hand, weapon in the other. He went up to the railing and put a hand out as if to test to see if the force field was still there. He put down the light, and touched his communicator.

"Alert Emergency Medical, the suspect may have tried to ju-"

Chakotay grabbed the man and slammed him hard against the wall, causing him to drop his gun. Chakotay took it, and fired at a portion of the wall next to the guard, who reflexively ducked. Chakotay started to head back to the stairwell leading to the platform when a beam of light came out of the cloud of steam that had formed after he destroyed the panel. It struck him the left shoulder and he fell back into, and nearly over, the railing. It hurt, but he pushed past it, and rushed the second guard, who hit his head on the floor grating when Chakotay slammed into him. He groaned, alive, but didn't get up.

Favoring his injured shoulder, Chakotay started running again. Eventually, he made it back to the bar where Tom had been working. Everyone seemed too involved with whatever they were doing to notice the man with the bleeding shoulder walk in. The wound was small, and the blood hadn't spread beyond the shoulder pad so far, but he made sure to take a seat in a booth that allowed him to keep that shoulder as out of view of the other patrons as possible.

"Ah, I was hoping I'd see you again," he heard Captain Janeway's voice say. He turned to see that, while he was looking at his left hand to make sure he could still move the fingers without difficulty, she had walked up to him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Chakotay lied. "Just, tired. First day at a new job."

"I know how that can be," Janeway said, smiling. "I just wanted to apologize for earlier. My friend, Jaffen, he was a little rude to you earlier when we asked you and your friend Neelix to join us."

"That's okay," Chakotay said.

"Well, you're more than welcome to sit with us tonight if you'd like. We're celebrating."

"What's the occasion?" Chakotay said.

"Jaffen and I are moving in together," Janeway said smiling.

Chakotay felt a pang of regret. Not for himself; while there had been something there once, it had pretty much been lost forever after he'd disobeyed orders and broke the deal with the Borg against Species 8472 almost four years ago. What he was worried about was what would happen with her and Jaffen once, or even if, the Doctor restored all her memories. Despite the Captain's apologies, he didn't feel Jaffen had been too rude at all. He seemed nice enough. And even with her memories altered, he could tell this was still his Captain he was talking to. If she trusted Jaffen, he felt he could too. Or at least he hoped he could.

"Congratulations, but I think I'm going to go home," Chakotay said.

"Okay," Janeway said. "Have a good night, Amal."

* * *

The bridge shook violently as the Quarren ships attacked. The shields surprisingly held, but Harry Kim doubted that would last.

"I can't penetrate their shields," Harry said, now back at tactical once the Doctor returned from sickbay where had Neelix looking over a sedated B'Elanna.

The Doctor, at the helm flying the ship, looked up at the viewscreen.

"Maybe we don't have to," he said. "The Battle of Vorkado. It's in my tactical database. A Romulan captain disabled two attacking vessels by creating a photonic shockwave between the ships."

"How'd he do that?" Harry said.

"Fire a photon torpedo to go between the two Quarren vessels, then fire phasers at the torpedo."

Harry nodded, smiling. "Good thinking." Harry did as he was ordered, and the resulting shockwave knocked the pursuing vessels off their course, their shields glowing under the onslaught of energy. "The ships are largely undamaged, but the shockwave seems to have affected their sensors. They're breaking off."

"I don't think they'll be bothering us again," The Doctor said, smugly.

A proximity alert beeped at Harry, and he looked down at the tactical readout.

"Five more ships on an intercept course," he said. "What's your tactical database got for this one Doc?"

"Transporters are damaged, shields are failing, We have to retreat and come up with a new plan."

"I was afraid you'd say that," Harry said.

"Once we're out of range of Quarren sensors," The Doctor said, "switch me back to EMH mode. I'll have access to more treatment options to try and help B'Elanna in the meantime."

"Is that a good idea?" Harry said. "Your tactical database-"

"Won't mean anything if we rescue the rest of the crew without a way to change them back. We'll be outnumbered by approximately 31 to 1 by people who think we've kidnapped them, in an enclosed space. I like those odds even less than then the ones against the Quarren ships."

"Fair point," Harry said.

* * *

A pair of Quarrens, one wearing garb similar to the official Chakotay had spoken to during his initial attempts to contact the crew, and another security guard, entered the bar, Chakotay kept his face turned away from them, trying not to be noticed, and planning for a way to slip out.

The first man went up to the bar and started speaking to Paris. Chakotay didn't hear what the first man said, but Tom's response was loud enough that he was able to pick it up, as well as apparently getting the attention of several other patrons.

"We run an honest business," Tom said.

With some of the other patrons conversations halted, Chakotay was able to hear the rest of the conversation.

"We're investigating the disappearance of two people who were seen leaving this establishment earlier this evening. One was a young pregnant woman-"

"B'Elanna? What happened to her?" Tom asked, dropping his cleaning rag and sounding concerned.

"You knew her?"

"I've been helping her. Her baby's father's a deadbeat who bailed, so I was helping her settle in, meet other parents around the city." Tom sighed, and looked at the floor. "I offered to walk her to her transport, but she insisted she was fine. I should've gone with her."

"Did you think someone was going to try and hurt her?"

"The city is supposed to be safe!" Tom said, sounding angry. The detective, or at least Chakotay assumed he was a detective, actually flinched, but didn't respond other than to look at his data pad.

"The person with her when she vanished was described as short, with mottled skin and facial hair."

"That sounds like someone who was in here earlier," Tom said. "Neelix, I think his name was. Said he was Talaxian."

"Never heard of them," the detective said. "Did this Neelix talk to anyone else while he was here?"

Chakotay took that as his cue to slip out. Thankfully, the security guard managed to walk right past him, not seeing his face or his wounded shoulder.

 _I guess the guards I knocked out never got a good look at me_ , he thought, grateful that no one seemed to notice him leaving.

* * *

Shortly after managing to land _Voyager_ in the crater of a moon with a paramagnetic core to hide the ship's energy signature from the sensors of any Quarren ship that might come looking for them, the Doctor got up to head to sickbay to begin working on fixing B'Elanna.

"Good hiding place, Doc," Harry said, "but if any of their ships get close enough to the crater all someone would have to do is look out a viewport."

"As far as the Quarrens know, Mister Kim," The Doctor said, "we haven't returned to this system after warping away from our original pursuers. If they can find us here, they've earned that. Now, if you would be so kind as to switch me back to EMH mode. When I'm an ECH the only medical procedures I can do are one's I've performed before and are in my memory database."

"Got it," Harry said, touching a few buttons on the tactical console. The Doctor's uniform changed from red back to blue, and he nodded.

"Thank you," he said. "I'll be in sickbay."

The Doctor quickly made his way there, where Neelix still stood by the side of B'Elanna's bio-bed, as if worried someone might try to take her away again.

The Doctor did his scans, and figuring it would be simpler to just tell Neelix what was happening rather than asking him to leave, which rarely worked anytime in the past,.

"The scan on the left," he said, pointing to a monitor showing two brain scans, "was performed during B'Elanna's last physical. The one on the right is from the one you saw me perform. The memory centers of her brain have been dramatically altered."

"That fits with what the Commander and I saw when we down there," Neelix said. "But some of the crew members I talked to down there seemed to remember parts of their real lives. Things like what planet they were born on, their names. Why not just change everything?"

"I don't know," The Doctor admitted, using the most disliked phrase in his entire vocabulary apart from 'I did all I could.' "Whoever did this was very sophisticated though. Selectively manipulating memory engrams takes much more work than just doing a complete mind wipe. Perhaps the Quarrens felt that erasing everything would make them less efficient as workers."

"Can you undo the damage?" Neelix asked.

"I believe so, but it will take some time."

"I wish there was something I could do to help," Neelix said.

The Doctor thought about it for a moment. "Maybe you can."

"Doctor?"

"She'll require several treatments," The Doctor said. "In between, you could expose her to familiar sites, surroundings. Take her to her quarters, show her engineering, pictures of those on the crew she was closest to. Just don't rush it. This is going to be very traumatic for her."

"Understood," Neelix said.

* * *

Doctor Ravoc read off the list of symptoms the patient named Tuvok had to his superior, Doctor Kadan.

"Anxiety, acute depression, and when I interviewed him he insisted that he's not who he's supposed to be. Says that we've stolen his..." Ravoc looked at his note. "His katra, whatever that is."

"Conclusions?" Kadan said. His cold demeanor concerned Ravoc somewhat. Of course, some detachment was required as a physician, lest the empathy for the sick become overwhelming, rendering you unable to function. But Tuvok wasn't dying, that was clear. Yet Kadan spoke of him as he were a cadaver and this was medical school.

"Tri-lobe regression complex? Polar-affective disorder maybe?"

"Neuropsychiatry isn't a guessing game, Doctor Ravoc," Kadan said.

Ravoc knew what Kadan wanted to hear. "Dysphoria syndrome."

"You have been studying my research," Kadan said, smiling. That smile unnerved Ravoc no end but he had no idea why.

"According to your work, the condition is very rare," Ravoc said.

"It is. I've treated this man before," Kadan said. "Apparently he's suffered a relapse. Recommended treatment." The last statement was spoken like a demand. Ravoc hated being talked to like he was still at a teaching infirmary, but he didn't want to lose his position here.

"Engramatic resequencing is typically indicated," he said.

"You seem skeptical," Kadan said.

Ravoc sighed, annoyed with himself for not hiding it better. "Resequencing is a radical procedure, Doctor Kadan."

Kadan stepped forward, as if trying to intimidate Ravoc. "If he had a malignant tumor would you be afraid to cut it out.

"No, of course not."

"This syndrome is just as insidious," Kadan continued. "It requires aggressive treatment. Get started." Without another word, Kadan turned around and left. Once he was sure Kadan was out of earshot, Ravoc groaned.

"This is a hospital, not an authoritarian dictatorship," he muttered.

Tuvok, who Ravoc had thought had been asleep this whole time tried to get up, straining against the straps that held him to the bed. "Please, help me."

Ravoc sighed as he filled an injector. "That's what we're here to do," he said, beginning the treatment despite the nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him that he shouldn't trust Kadan.

* * *

Annika Hansen shook her head to clear the latest vision, this one tinted green as if looking through some kind of liquor bottle, and seeing a massive structure, filled with cyborgs like her, but all with much more technology embedded in their bodies, and their skin pale as if dead. The phrase 'cyborg zombies' entered her mind briefly and she almost laughed at how silly the term sounded.

She couldn't shake the concerns though. This had all started when Tuvok had touched her. She went to see the supervisor, but decided to keep it vague. She couldn't risk being fired, not when her family had really settled into their new apartment.

"I want to know the status of Employee #8583," she said.

"Good morning to you as well. Efficiency Monitor Hansen," the supervisor said.

"I apologize for my directness," Annika said. "There is simply some concern amongst the other workers that his condition is contagious."

The supervisor worked his console. "Ah, the man removed by security the other day. He has been hospitalized, yes. But you can tell anyone concerned that-"

The supervisor was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and another man stepping into the office. "Pardon me, am I intruding?"

"Not at all, Investigator," the supervisor said.

"My name is Yerid," the investigator said, "and I'm looking into the disappearance of two your employees. Names of Neelix and Torres."

"Both of them failed to report for work today," Annika said.

"What about this man?" Yerid said, tapping a few button on his data pad and handing it to Annika, who held it so the supervisor could look at the image on it as well.

"Employee #9363. Amal Kotay. He didn't report for work either," Annika said.

"I'd like to see his personnel file," Yerid said, "and I'll need to interview anyone who may know where he is."

"Of course," the supervisor said. "Though for the sake of my other employees I'll need a court order first. I don't want my people concerned for their privacy while they're keeping this place running, I hope you understand."

"As a formality?" Yerid said, though Annika detected a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"Of course. I'll have the file ready for you well before the order arrives," the supervisor said.

* * *

Janeway went back to her apartment one last time. It was exciting, but also mildly amusing to her that she hadn't even gotten used to this place yet before moving to another one. She had never felt the way she felt about Jaffen with anyone before. Not even Mark, the man she'd left when she decided that Earth wasn't for her. She didn't hold it against him that he'd wanted to stay where he was born, but it had still hurt her to see the look in his eyes when she'd returned his ring.

"What the hell?" she said when she opened the door and found it dark. It was daytime, but the window covers were closed. "Lights," she said. They didn't come on.

"Well, glad I already have a new place," she said out loud. "Saves me the trouble of having to call maintenance." She looked for her last pair of boxes, when she saw the rag on the floor. She knelt down to look at it and saw blood. Red, like hers.

"Kathryn," a voice said, and she gasped, nearly falling over. Leaning against the wall behind her, out of sight from the front door, was Amal Kotay, the man everyone had been looking for ever since two of her co-workers had vanished last night. He was holding a weapon, but looked like he was about to pass out.

"What do you want?" she said.

"You told me you were moving out," Amal said. "I needed a place to hide." He winced as he struggled to his feet.

"Jaffen knows where I am. He'll come looking for me," she said.

"I don't doubt that," Amal said. "He seems like a good man."

"He is," Kathy said, surprised at how little fear she felt despite a wanted man pointing a gun at her. "They say you had something to do with the disappearance of a pregnant woman."

"I did," Amal said. "Her name's B'Elanna. She was brought to this planet against her will, and her memories were tampered with."

"Why should I believe that?" Kathy said, though inwardly she found that she actually did. _Why are you taking his word for it?_ she thought.

"Honestly, you shouldn't," Amal said. "I wouldn't, if I were in your position. But she's not the only one in this city I'm trying to help get home. I need you to trust me, so…"  
Amal, breathing heavily as he did so, leaned down and put the gun on the floor. He tried to kick it over to her but was too weak so it was too far away for either of them to grab.  
Kathy could've called for security right then and there, but she didn't, surprising even herself.

"You can report me if you want," Amal said, "but all I'm asking for is a place to stay until my friends come back for me."

After a long silence, Kathy stepped forward. "We're going to have to do something about that arm." She opened one of the boxes, grateful that she had not already taken her towels to Jaffen's place.

* * *

"The waiter?" B'Elanna said, holding the picture that Neelix had given her. "From the tavern?"

Neelix nodded, having found a picture of the two of them at their wedding, each holding a champagne glass, smiling as they looked in each others eyes. It wasn't the best photo of the couple ever taken, but Neelix figured that a better looking one might be easier to dismiss as doctored.

"Lieutenant Tom Paris, our pilot, and B'Elanna Torres, our chief engineer. On their wedding day," Neelix said.

"Wedding? He's my husband? Does that mean…" she looked down at her stomach.

"You're having a girl," Neelix said.

B'Elanna lowered the picture, but still held it, as she walked around her and Tom's quarters, slowly touching all the replicated 20th century era items that Tom kept as decoration and the bat'leth on the wall that had been gifted to her by Kohlar.

Neelix hoped the fact that she had not outright rejected any of this as real was a sign that the first treatment had gone well. An object up against one of the walls seemed to have caught her focus, and Neelix looked where she was looking.

"A replica of a device called a television," Neelix said. "You gave it to Tom as a gift."

"He watches cartoons," B'Elanna said. Neelix smiled.

"Yes," he said.

"How do I know that?" B'Elanna said.

"Because you're starting to remember," Neelix said.

B'Elanna kept looking around, stopping when she saw what was going to be her baby's crib. She gently touched the mobile above it, first the tiny Klingon Bird of Prey, and the tiny _Voyager_.

"I'd wondered why he was so protective of me," she said.

"I'll be outside if you need me," Neelix said, heading out into the hall.

* * *

Kathy snuck into the plant, and opened a panel on a side wall, looking for a 'dermal regenerator' as Amal Kotay, or Chakotay as he'd started insisting he be called, had called it. She'd heard it referred to as a 'wound sealer' during training, but didn't want to argue semantics. When she closed the panel she almost jumped when she saw Annika Hansen standing there.

"Your shift ended three hours ago," she said.

"I know," Kathy said. "My friend, Jaffen employee 1326, he cut himself, and he's too stubborn to go to the infirmary."

"Removing property from these premises is not permitted, Cap-" Hansen looked confused briefly. "Miss Janeway," she corrected.

 _Was she about to call me Captain?_ Kathy thought.

"I promise I'll have it back first thing in the morning," she said. Hansen looked like she was about to tell Kathy to put it back, but then she seemed to get distracted by something she saw at the other end of the work floor.

"Be sure that you do," she said, before unceremoniously heading in that direction.

* * *

Annika noticed that the supervisor had left his office while she was speaking to the employee Kathy Janeway. Figuring this was her chance to find out what was going on, she ignored her instinct and allowed Janeway to take the wound sealer, much to the other woman's visible confusion, and headed towards the stairs to the supervisor's office.

She began manipulating controls on the supervisor's console.

"Display the personnel file for Employee #8583," she said.

"Access restricted," the computer's electronic voice replied. She finished the work she'd started before even making the request, and only a second later the same voice said,

"Security clearance verified."

The data filled the screen in the blank space next to Tuvok's picture, first left to right then right to left, but Annika was used to reading Quarren by now.

"Display all medical and historical data for the employee's species," she said.

"Data unavailable."

"List all files accessed by this employee since he's been here," she said.

"Personnel files. Employee 8582, Nozawa, Kashimuro. Employee #8584, Janeway, Kathryn. Employee #8585, McKenzie, William."

She looked at the pictures on the screen. Most of them were human, including herself, but she also saw the missing pregnant woman, Torres, as well as blue-skinned alien with a bifurcated face, among others. The only common thread was that all had arrived on Quarra at roughly the same time. She almost gasped when she saw the face of a teenage boy who was listed not as an employee, but as attending a special school in another city for talented youths. The teenager was the one from her first vision, the one from Naomi's dream.

"Icheb," the computer said his name was.

"What the hell is going on here?" she said to herself.

* * *

"You need a doctor," Kathy said to Chakotay as she sealed the wound on his arm. She wondered if there was something wrong with the device as his skin seemed to get darker as it healed, but she realized that it could be something to do with his physiology.

"That'll have to wait 'til I'm back on _Voyager_ ," Chakotay said.

"That's the name of your ship?" she said.

"For almost seven years," Chakotay said.

"You're its captain?" Kathy said.

"First officer," Chakotay said, looking Kathy in the eyes in a way that made her uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as she felt she should be. "My captain is one of the people in this city whose memories have been altered."

"Hmm," Kathy said. "Well good luck finding him."

"Her," Chakotay said.

"Sorry," she said.

"Quite alright," Chakotay said. "So, you monitor power coils at the planet?"

"That's right," Kathy said. "You already know that though so what's your point?"

"You're obviously very capable," he said. "You could probably run that plant."

"Why would I want all that responsibility?" she said.

Before Chakotay could respond, there was a broken chirping sound coming from his hand.

"What's that?" she said.

"My people are trying to contact me," he said to Kathy. "Chakotay here," he said into his hand.

"Are you okay, Commander?" a voice responded.

"For the time being. Can you get me out of here?"

"No, sir. We're eight light years away."

"How were you able to transmit that far without the signal being detected?"

"A triaxilating frequency on a covariant subspace band. B'Elanna's idea," the voice on the other end said.

 _The pregannt woman they kidnapped?_ Kathy thought. _Maybe he was telling the truth all along. Though if I doubted it, why was I still willing to help?  
_

"I take it she's feeling better then," Chakotay said.

"The Doctor says she's been responding very well to the treatment."

"Good to hear, Harry."

"Have you located anyone else from the crew?" the man named Harry said.

"As a matter of fact," Chakotay said, looking Kathy in the eyes. "I'm sitting with Captain Janeway right now.

"What?!" Kathy said, bolting upright and nearly tripping over herself as she stepped back.

"Judging from what I just heard," Harry's voice said, "she doesn't remember who she is."

"She's understandably skeptical," Chakotay said. "How soon can you get back into transporter range?"

"We'll need another day or so to finish repairs," Harry said. "Quarren orbital defense gave us a bit of a beating after we got B'Elanna back. Nothing major, but neither the Doctor nor I think we should risk going back until we're at 100%."

"Good call," Chakotay said, smiling. "I can see both of you making Captain once we get back to the Alpha Quadrant."

"I won't tell the Doctor you said that," Harry replied. "His ego's big enough as it is."

Chakotay laughed. "Okay. Let's maintain radio silence until I contact you. I've got an idea about shutting down the shield grid, but I want to make sure it's plausible. Chakotay out."

Kathy didn't know why she let the conversation play out before she started yelling at Chakotay, but she was more ready to start ranting.

"What you're saying is absurd," she said. "Why did you call me Captain? Are you trying to tell me my memories have been messed with too? How can we possibly have served together, we're not even the same species."

"More than a hundred races make up the Federation," Chakotay said. "Your oldest friend, Tuvok, is Vulcan."

"Tuvok? The man who went nuts at the plant the other day?"

"You were there when his youngest child was born," Chakotay said. "When he went missing seven years ago, before we met, you promised his wife you'd bring him home."

"Helping you was a mistake," Kathy said, angry at this man coming into her life, angry at herself for letting him in. She had a good job, a good partner; she didn't need any of this confusion.

"Listen to me," Chakotay said, standing up. "There are more than a hundred of _Voyager's_ crew working around the power plant. Your crew. When our ship gets here I'll be able to prove it to you."

"Go to hell," Kathy said.

"Hand me that dermal regenerator," Chakotay said. "Let me show you. I'm not Talaxian. I'm human like you. Our Doctor-"

"Gimme a break," Kathy said, rolling her eyes.

"I can't remove every change he made with just that," Chakotay said. "But I can expose enough of my real face that you'll see I'm telling truth."

She didn't believe him, but figured she could at least take out some of her frustration. "Will it hurt?"

"A little," Chakotay said.

"Then let me do it," Kathy said, holding the wound sealer, or dermal regenerator as he kept calling it, like a weapon. Chakotay pointed at his forehead.

"Start here," he said. She did so, taking some pleasure in his wincing, not sure what she expected to happen, but she almost dropped the device when she saw his facial spots vanish, like a racial characteristic shouldn't from just a healing device. More and more human like features appeared on his face as she moved it over him.

She hated to admit it, but the evidence was staring her in the face. Literally,

"We're the same species," she said.

"We're more than that," Chakotay said. "We're friends."

"I… I need some air," Kathy said.

Chakotay made no effort to stop her. A huge risk, seeing as she was tempted to call security as soon as she was in the hallway. Why she didn't then she had no idea. She just walked to Jaffen's apartment.

"I was starting to worry," he said.

Kathy immediately, barely pausing to take a breath, told him everything that had happened after she left here the last time, in as much detail as she could remember, even an aside to Annika Hansen's odd behavior at the plant.

"Am I hearing this correctly?" Jaffen said. "You're actually helping this man?"

Kathy nodded.

"He abducted one of the workers," he said.

"She's a member of his crew," Kathy said, not sure why she was so quick to defend him now when mere minutes ago she was ready to turn him in.

 _Am I starting to believe his story?_ she thought.

"Right, and you're the Captain," Jaffen said.

"No need to be so condescending," Kathy replied.

"I don't mean it like that. I bet you'd make a hell of a starship captain if you wanted to be one," Jaffen said. "I mean that he's trying to convince you that you'll have a better life if you go with him. You've got a good job here. You have me. Why are you willing to risk-"

"Why would it be a risk?" Kathy said. "Are you saying that if he's right and I am captain of a starship I can't take you with me?"

That made Jaffen pause. He sat down.

"I've lived on ships before," he said, much calmer now. "They're cramped. Even the decent ones hardly have any good viewports to see the stars out of. The food was bland most of the time. I don't want to go through that again. This _Voyager_ would have to be one hell of a ship for me to even think about it."

Kathy nodded. Jaffen was right. She had a good life here, and she was putting it on the line for a man who had already clearly lied to her, regardless of his reasons. Why should she risk her relationship and her freedom?

"What's the name of the lead investigator in B'Elanna's disappearance?" she said.

"Yerid," Jaffen said.

* * *

Chakotay paced Janeway's now former apartment, wondering if she'd decided to call security. As much like herself as she seemed to be, she also seemed completely different; afraid of the burdens of command.

He heard the door open and he turned around, to see the detective from the bar, and two armed guards.

"Stay where you are," the detective said. Chakotay went for his weapon, but he was too slow and was shot in the stomach. He doubled over in pain, a pain worse than the one from the shoulder wound.

He passed out.

* * *

"I don't know them," Amal Kotay, or whatever his name was, said when Yerid showed him pictures of B'Elanna and the man identified as Neelix. After being treated for his injuries, and having most of his admittedly impressive alien prosthetics removed, Yerid began interrogating him as soon as was possible.

"I think you do," Yerid said. "And I think you were involved in their disappearance."

The female doctor scanning Amal Kotay's body touched Yerid's shoulder. "I found some kind of communications device embedded in his hand," she said.

"Remove it," Yerid said.

"Listen to me," Amal Kotay said. "You and I have one thing in common."

"What's that?" Yerid said, in a mocking tone of voice, wondering what story this suspect was going to spin.

"We're both investigating disappearances," Amal said. "If you answer my questions, I'll answer yours."

Yerod thought about it for a second, and decided it couldn't hurt. Even if this man was lying to him entirely, he could still learn useful information from that.

"Okay," he said, but before Amal could say anything another doctor walked in, flanked by two armed guards.

"I have an order to transfer this patient to Division 6," he said.

"Division 6?" Yerid said. The second doctor handed the first one a data pad.

"Neuropathology," she said, sounding as confused as Yerid felt. He didn't like anyone interfering with an investigation, and this was blatant interference.

"We have reason to believe he's mentally ill," the second doctor said.

"How could they know that?" Amal said, looking at Yerid. "They've never examined me."

"My suspect raises a very good point," Yerid said, standing up and crossing his arms. "I'm going with him."

"I'm sorry sir," the second doctor said. "but my orders are to bring him for immediate treatment."

"This man is a suspect in a serious crime," Yerid said, though his instinct was telling him that Amal Kotay might actually be one of the more trustworthy people in this room at the moment. "I'm not letting him out of my sight."

"If you check the order you'll see it's been approved by the Director of Investigations," the other doctor said.

 _My own boss is going along with this?_ Yerid thought. _That can't be right._

"Let me see that, Doctor…"

"Ravoc, sir."

Yerid took the data pad and looked over it very carefully, and sighed.

"My real name is Chakotay," the suspect started saying, talking fast as the guards started wheeling his bed out the door. "I'm an officer aboard the Federation starship _Voyager_. Members of my crew were abducted and their memories were altered and they were put to work here. I can give you names, descriptions-" The door closed, cutting off the rest of what he was going to say.

"That poor man," the doctor said. Yerid looked at her.

"Yes, but I don't think he's lying. Something's not right here, and I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

* * *

Back in ECH mode, the Doctor sat at Captain Janeway's desk in her ready room, while Harry stood across from him.

"I've been analyzing the sensor data we recorded about the Quarren ships that attacked us," he said handing Harry a PADD, "and I think I've devised a way to evade their sensors."

"I'll implement this plan right away, Sir," Harry said.

"Sir," The Doctor repeated. "I think that's the first time you've called me 'Sir' since the ECH program was activated. Not sure how I feel about it."

"You've earned it," Harry said.

"Well, all the same, once we have the crew back it'll be nice to go back to just being the EMH for awhile. Not that I dislike being in command, mind you…"

"That chair does have a certain appeal to it," Harry said, smiling.

The Doctor opened his mouth to agree, but the sound of a comm channel opening interrupted him. He and Harry went over to the console on Janeway's desk. It was Chakotay hailing them, but the signal was weak.

"We're receiving you sir, go ahead," Harry said.

"I'm having trouble with my transceiver," Chakotay said. "This may be the last chance we have to talk."

Something seemed off in the Commander's voice. The Doctor looked at Harry, wondering if he picked up on it too, but he didn't seem to.

"What's your status?" Harry said.

"I'm almost ready to shut down the shield grid. I'm sending you encrypted instructions. They'll tell you when and where to enter orbit."

"We have it, Commander," Harry said.

"Chakotay, out."

* * *

Once the communication line was broken, Kadan had Chakotay put back under sedation.

"Well," Doctor Kadan said, "now you know where to find _Voyager_."

"I'll have three ships with me," another alien in the room said. "They won't get away this time."

"They'd better not. You should've been able to capture their ship last time."

"If you'd done your job right the first time," the power plant's supervisor said, standing on the other side of Chakotay, "we wouldn't have a problem now."

"How was I supposed to know their hologram could handle a firefight? Or that they had people off-ship?" the alien captain said, storming off.

As he left, Doctor Ravoc came in, and Kadan inwardly swore. This young man was asking too many questions. He'd hate to have to rewrite his memories too.

"Aren't there patients you should be taking care of, Ravoc?" Kadan said.

"Uh, yes, sir," Ravoc said. "But I've been thinking, this is the second person we've admitted with Dysphoria Syndrome this week, and both worked at the power plant. Witnesses say that this man had no contact with Tuvok, our other patient. Maybe we should issue a health alert-"

"Do you think I'm incompetent?" Kadan said.

"Sir?" Ravoc said, clearly thrown off by Kadan's sudden anger, which was the goal all along.

"This man," Kadan said, motioning towards the supervisor. "is in charge of personnel at the power facility. I've informed him of the situation."

"I've already taken steps to ensure the safety of the rest of my employees," the supervisor said.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you," Ravoc said, looking down.

"No need to apologize," Kadan said. "You concern for your patients is admirable, but don't worry. This man is already responding to treatment."

Ravoc nodded. Kadan could tell though that he still had doubts, but as long as he didn't ask any questions, he could put off anything more drastic to keep him quiet.

* * *

Annika looked around, feeling nervous. At least she'd had the foresight to tell Samantha where she was going, if not why. She didn't want to worry Sam if she didn't have to.

Investigator Yerid sat across from her at the table in the bar.

"Why would this Tuvok be collecting information about his co-workers?" he asked.

"I don't know," Annika said. "But one of the names on that list is B'Elanna Torres; the woman who went missing. They both began working at the plant on the same day, along with over fifty others, also on that list. Over 120 names in total, all arriving on the planet the same day, and being hired within the same week. Myself included."  
Yerid's facial expression gave it away; he had as many questions about this as she had, if not more. Her initial instinct to trust him with this seemed to be the correct one.

"More than a hundred skilled employees, most of them of the same species, arriving all at once? Could be a coincidence, but…"

"But it happening during a labor shortage?" Annika said.

"Exactly what I was thinking."

"You'll also note that every single name on the list passed through the central hospital. Now, it is routine for new arrivals to be examined by quarantine control, but as you can see here, they were processed through-"

"Division 6," Yerid said.

"Every single one of them."

"Something is going on," Yerid said. "And Division 6 is at the center of it."

"What do you mean?"

"Had a run in with one of their people yesterday. Took my suspect away from me before I had a chance to do a real interrogation."

"What's more," Annika said, "even though the records show I came through neuropathology, I have no memory of being there. Neither do my wife, or my daughter."

Yerid looked around, as though he were as afraid he was being watched as she had been. "What do you expect me to do?"

"You can start by interviewing Mister Tuvok."

"I want to," Yerid said, sighing. "But I can't."

"Why not?"

"I've been taken off the case. Happened at the same time Division 6 took Chakotay out of my custody. 'Relieved of duty' were my superior's exact words."

"Yerid, there you are," the bartender, Tom Paris, said, coming up to their table, looking worried. "Have you found anything about B'Elanna?"

"He's been relieved of duty," Annika said.

"Oh," Tom said, looking defeated.

"This man is also in Tuvok's file," Annika said, looking at Yerid again.

"What file?" Tom said

"Why don't you tell him?" Annika said.

"Tell me what?" Tom said, sounding more and more agitated.

"I can't go back to the hospital and start asking questions," Yerid said. "I'd be reported. But maybe you could."

"Me?" Annika said. "You're the detective."

"And that's what I'm known as around here," Yerid said. "And that puts me at a disadvantage in a situation like this."

"Could someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Tom said.

Annika had Tom sit down, and she explained to him everything she knew. Tom seemed to take it all in stride.

"The first time I saw her," Tom said, "B'Elanna I mean, I felt like I already knew her. If what you're saying is true, is it possible that I did? What do they do in neuropathology anyway?"

"Treat mental illnesses," Yerid said. "Or at least that's the official story."

* * *

Later that day, after further conversation and planning with Tom and Yerid, Annika went to the hospital. She presented herself as having concerns about her health, and a secretary directed her to the office of a Doctor Ravoc.

"What seems to be the problem, Miss Hansen?" he said, sitting down behind his desk.

"Recently, I've been…" she said, her practiced concern sounding to her ears as good as she'd hoped.

"I'm a doctor, you can trust me," Ravoc said. "What seems to be the problem?"

"I've been experiencing some disturbing thoughts," Annika said. "I don't believe it's anything serious, but I would like to speak with someone."

"Well, you've come to the right place," Ravoc said. "Let me look up your file."

She gave him her employee number from the power plant, and her file appeared on the screen behind Ravoc, who turned around to look at it.

"Ah, you have been a patient here before," he said.

"Yes, when I first arrived."

Ravoc turned back to look at her, seeming equal parts confused and concerned. "You were treated for Dysphoria Syndrome?"

"I have no recollection of that," Annika said, which was completely true. She'd never even heard of such an illness.

"These disturbing thoughts you mentioned," Ravoc said, "would you characterize them as hallucinations?"

Annika almost flinched. This was getting uncomfortable. But she had to see this through.

"What's the cause of this syndrome?" she said.

"We're conducting studies to determine that," Ravoc said. "Fortunately, we have one of the foremost experts on the condition working here."

"I'd like to speak with this expert," Annika said.

"Well, Dr. Kadan's very busy-"

"As am I," Annika said. "Perhaps I should return when he is free."

She got up to leave, but Ravoc put up a hand to stop her. "Wait here," he said. "I'll find him." He got up to leave himself, leaving Annika alone in his office while he went to look for this Kadan he'd mentioned.

As soon as the door closed, Annika went to the console he'd been using, and started looking up more information.

* * *

Kathy stared out the window towards the river, while Jaffen cooked dinner. The door chime alerting them that someone was outside distracted her from her thoughts. Despite herself, she couldn't help thinking about what Chakotay had said about her being a starship Captain.

She went to open the door.

"I'm Yerid, with Criminal Investigations," the man outside said.

"Yes," Kathy said. "I remember you from when that Torres girl went missing."

She felt Jaffen's hand on her waist.

"Inspector, come in. Is there anything we can help you with?"

Yerid kept looking at her, and back at the data pad in his hand.

"You're Kathryn Janeway, correct?"

"Yes," Kathy said.

"Do you know this man?" he tapped a few buttons on the pad then showed it to her. An image of an unconscious Chakotay was on it now, more of his disguise removed. He looked more human than ever now.

"No," Kathy said, not sure why she lied, but knowing she was in too deep to start now.

"I thought maybe you'd met him."

"Why?" she said.

"He was found in your former living quarters in possession of a wound sealer that you removed from the power plant."

"I was the one who helped him," Jaffen said. Kathy appreciated him trying to cover for her, but she stepped up. She'd been caught in the lie, she had to own it.

"He said he was from a starship," she said, as she took Jaffen's arm in her own. "And that members of his crew had been abducted."

"He was obviously lying," Jaffen said.

"Maybe not," Yerid said. "I want to know everything he told you."

"Hold on," Jaffen said, "why would you believe-"

"I have my reasons," Yerid said.

Kathy had a bad feeling about all of this. If the very man who'd arrested Chakotay was leaning toward believing him, what did that say about her refusal to believe it?

* * *

"How could she just walk out?" Kadan yelled, slamming a fist on Ravoc's desk.

"She was a voluntary patient," Ravoc said, understanding where this anger was coming from. "There was no reason for Security to stop her." Ravoc went over to the console that Annika Hansen had hacked into. "She accessed 64 restricted files. All of them for people diagnosed with Dysphoria Syndrome."

Ravoc looked deeper into the files.

"According to the records all these patients arrived on the same day," he said. He suddenly realized that Kadan was slowly moving towards him, as if getting ready to ambush him.

"You're listed as attending physician in every case," Ravoc said. "If there was an outbreak, how didn't I hear about it?"

"Does it matter? I treated them all, and they were all discharged."

"It says they were all discharged to the main power facility," Ravoc said, continuing to face the monitor and hoping Kadan couldn't see his nervousness. Something was going on that he didn't know about, and his superior was involved. That scared him. "That supervisor you were talking to yesterday, that's where he worked."

"I explained that to you," Kadan said. "I was informing him of a potential health threat."

"That man you had me transfer out of Criminal Investigation," Ravoc said, pulling up another file, "he claimed that his friends had been abducted, had their memories altered, and were put to work."

"What are you implying?" Kadan said, defensively. Ravoc's suspicions were being confirmed as he was forming them.

Ravoc knew that Kadan didn't have a weapon, so he took a deep breath and tried not to look worried.

"You're making false diagnoses," he said, "selectively changing what people remember so they think they came here willingly to pick up work during our labor shortage."

Kadan's face betrayed his mixed emotions. He looked almost as proud as he did angry.

"Very good, Doctor Ravoc," he said. "But a more gifted physician would be able to see this in the larger context."

"What context could possibly make brainwashing people acceptable? Including," Ravoc glanced back at his console. "Two children?"

"The real public health threat on Quarra isn't Dysphoria Syndrome. You've already figured out we made that up. The threat is the labor shortage. The only cure? More skilled workers."

"We're doctors," Ravoc said. "We help patients, not break them. What you're doing, it's wrong. I don't care about your reasons."

"We're helping them lead happy, productive lives," Kadan said.

"By altering their memories?"

"The treatment I provide improves their lives," Kadan said. Ravoc could tell he was being pitched to. Kadan wanted to bring him in on this conspiracy. He wondered if he should reject it outright, or pretend to go along to try and bring it down from the inside. "And makes them better workers. In turn, our economy improves."

"You're profiting from this, aren't you?" Ravoc asked.

"Doesn't a physician deserve to be compensated for his services?"

"Obviously I don't think doctors should live in poverty," Ravoc said, thinking of his own above-average sized apartment in the outskirts of the city. "But getting rich off of messing with people's heads? Lying about diseases? I'll report you."

"To whom?" Kadan said. "My research is funded by the Ministry of Health."

"Criminal Investigations then."

"The department whose director signed the order transferring Mister Chakotay, or Amal Kotay, or whatever name he uses, to our hospital," Kadan said.

"Am I the only one who didn't know about this?" Ravoc said.

"No," Kadan said. "But I think it best for everyone that I not tell you how many people are involved in total. In case you get any ideas about exposing us. You never know who you might be trying to expose this to."

* * *

"She's considered dangerous," one of two Quarren guards said, showing an image of Annika Hansen to Tom Paris.

"She's never been in here," Tom said as he went about the work of closing the bar for the night.

"You're sure?" The other guard said.

"I think I'd remember meeting a cyborg," Tom said.

"If you do see her, report it immediately," the first guard said. "She needs to be hospitalized."

"I'll let you know if I do," Tom said, closing and locking the door behind the guards as they left.

"It's safe now," Tom said. Annika, Kathy Janeway, Jaffen, and Yerid all came out from the back room into the dimly lit bar.

"Thank you," Annika said.

"Well if you really wanna thank me," Tom said as everyone started taking seats around a table, "you can tell me what's going on."

"It appears this Chakotay was telling the truth," Annika said.

"So, everyone at the plant has had their memories altered?" Jaffen said.

"I do not believe so," Annika said. "Not every arrival since the labor shortage began has been through Division 6."

"Well, that's something at least," Jaffen said. "I'd hate to think that I was secretly a father of three or something like that."

"You're Norvalian, remember?" Kathy said, playfully poking Jaffen in the arm.

"Am I really?" Jaffen said with a smirk.

"Can you do that some other time, please?" Yerid said, sounding annoyed.

"Your name was not in Dr. Kadan's files," Anika said to Jaffen. "You are likely exactly who you believe you are.

"Shouldn't we report this to the authorities?" Tom said, surprised at himself for taking this new information in stride. _You'd think this wasn't my first time having my memories messed with,_ he thought.

"I'd need more evidence before making any accusations," Yerid said. "And seeing as the director of CI is likely in on it, that means I'd need to know who I can trust before making any accusations."

"Chakotay said he had more proof of my real identity," Kathy said. "Aboard a ship called _Voyager_."

"How do we locate it?" Annika said.

"When they contacted him," Kathy said, "they were using.. What was it? A triaxilating frequency on a covariant subspace band?"

"Are those real words?" Tom said.

"Ssh," Yerid said.

"There's a subspace transponder at the power plant," Annika said.

"Kathy and I aren't on the run," Jaffen said. "We should go. Annika, what about your wife? Does she know what's going on?"

Annika sighed, and lowered her head. "I didn't get the chance to tell her anything before I left for work this morning. She must be scared."

"Don't try to contact her," Yerid said. "The guards will be watching your place. And if there's a big conspiracy going on I wouldn't put it past whoever's involved to try to use them as leverage against you."

"Perhaps," Annika said, "if I were to return to the hospital with you, in your custody, we can use that as an opportunity to help Chakotay and Tuvok."

"Could work," Tom said. "No one's been asking around about Yerid. Far as anyone involved knows he's holed up in his apartment complaining about being taken off an important case."

Yerid nodded.

"I'll go with you two," Tom said to Jaffen and Kathy. "I don't know how much I can help, but it's better than sitting around and waiting."

* * *

Annika listened closely while pretending to be unconscious as Yerid spoke to Doctor Kadan.

"I had to sedate her," Yerid said. "She wouldn't come voluntarily."

"Her condition has obviously worsened," Kadan said, scanning Annika. "I'll treat her right away.

"There are some other patients I'd like to interview, Yerid said.

"These people can't be disturbed," Kadan said. Annika heard the sound of Yerid pulling his sidearm from his holster. Annika partially opened one eye, and saw Kadan going for something on the wall by him, presumably an alarm of some kind. She bolted up and grabbed his arm.

"I suggest you comply," she said.

* * *

Kathy wondered just how Jaffen had learned how to break into secure buildings so easily as the door to the power plant opened.

"Be careful," he said, staying just outside to stand watch. She gently touched his shoulder as she went in, Tom Paris close behind her. The two of them made their way to the supervisor's office, Tom staying outside that door to provide additional cover, and began manipulating the controls, trying to contact _Voyager_.

The screen changed, and she saw what looked like a large room. She saw Neelix, and another human, fairly clearly despite some minor static.

"Captain?" the human said, and she recognized his voice as the one Chakotay called Harry.

"So I'm told," Kathy said. "Just, call me Kathy for now."

There was a brief pause.

"Yeah, I'm not doing that," Harry said. "Where's the Commander?"

"Chakotay's been hospitalized. He told me you had proof of who some of us really are."

"We do," a woman's voice said, and the missing pregnant woman, now wearing a uniform like Harry's stepped into view.

"You're the woman who was abducted," Kathy muttered.

"Chakotay was supposed to deactivate the shield grid," B'Elanna Torres said. "So we can transport you and the others to safety. If you could find a way to shut down main power, the shield grid will go down too."

"Will you help us?" Harry said.

Before she could answer the image on the screen shook, and the lights on _Voyager's_ bridge dimmed.

"We're under attack," a voice from off-screen said. "Three ships. Not Quarren ones this time. They're the same ships that planted the subspace mines."

"Please," Harry said to Kathy. "Shut down the shield g-" The signal cut out.

Tom slid into the supervisor's office.

"We got company," he said. Kathy looked and saw the supervisor, followed by two armed guards coming towards them from one direction, and a lone, but much larger guard coming down another.

"Either your boyfriend sold us out," Tom said, "or he'd triggered an alarm and didn't realize it."

"Stay where you are," the large man said, not seeing Jaffen come up behind him and zap him in the neck with the same tool he'd used to open the door.

"Stop!" the supervisor yelled as Jaffen grabbed the fallen guard's weapon and fired towards them, hitting one guard, and sending the other guard and the supervisor scattering for cover."

"I saw them coming," Jaffen said, "so I let them slip past so I could get the drop on them. I've never been a combat guy, so they ought to be embarrassed with themselves for letting me get away with that."

Kathy gave Jaffen a big kiss, and took his hand and headed for the door. She didn't need to tell Tom to follow.

* * *

"So much for evading their sensors," Harry said.

"We should've asked exactly when Chakotay was hospitalized," The Doctor said from tactical. "This was probably a trap. If they knew exactly where we'd be…"

He didn't need to finish the thought. Harry realized he was probably right. The ship shuddered after another volley from the ships attacking them.

"Transporters are off-line," B'Elanna said.

"Of course they are," Harry said.

* * *

Annika, Yerid, and Kadan, the latter with Yerid's gun pressed into his back, entered the room where two nurses worked on Chakotay and Tuvok, one each.

"Tell them to give us some privacy," Yerid said quietly.

"You're dismissed," Kadan said to the nurses. If they had any questions, they kept it to themselves as they walked out.

"Disconnect them," Yerid said to Kadan.

Annika saw a third occupied bed, and a man with the same technology over his head as Tuvok and Chakotay.

"Doctor Ravoc? What is this man doing here?"

"Dysphoria Syndrome," Kadan said, casually, as he disconnected Chakotay.

* * *

"We're losing shields," Neelix said after another volley. So far firing back had done nothing, the enemy ships having learned from their first encounter with _Voyager_ what her phasers were capable of. They weren't getting in as many shots as they could've, but the trade off had worked for them, unfortunately.

"Any ideas from your tactical database?" Harry said.

"Nothing that would help us in this situation," The Doctor said.

 _The same ships that took the crew…_ Harry thought.

"How many escape pods do we have left?" he said.

"Five," B'Elanna said.

"Prepare to eject three," Harry said.

"I don't think abandoning ship is a good idea," The Doctor said.

"Neither do I. Can you create a dampening field around the briefing room to mask our life signs?"

"I believe so. Why? Oh, wait. I see. Very clever, Lieutenant."

"Thanks, Doc. B'Elanna, Neelix, follow me to the briefing room. Doc, once the pods are launched, put up the dampening field."

"And then detonate the explosives that will be in the escape pods," The Doctor said, smiling.

* * *

As the pods being launched were the ones closest to the bridge, it didn't take long for Harry and the others to rig them. As they worked, The Doctor picked up signs that the Quarren shield grid had gone down. That was one less thing to worry about.

Once the door to the briefing room closed, The Doctor jettisoned the pods and activated the dampening field. Within seconds the pursuing ships had grabbed them in their tractor beams, one pod per ship, just as hoped.

The Doctor saw he was being hailed, and he sat in the Captain's Chair before answering the hail, smiling.

"Well, hologram," the captain of the hailing ship said. It was in fact the same man who The Doctor had beaten before and who had abducted his crewmates. "Your crew has abandoned you again. I suggest you surrender your vessel."

"You should realize by now that I'm not programmed to do that," The Doctor said, tapping a button on the chair's arm. The viewscreen switched back to a view of the attacking ships. The Doctor pushed another button, and the escape pods exploded, the shockwave knocking them back, and disabling the tractor beams in the process. He worried for a moment they might start attacking again, but instead, as the ship's righted themselves, they turned and warped away.

"Looks like the Quarrens are going to be in the market for new pirates," The Doctor said, smiling, then realizing that no one was around to hear his one-liner. The door to the briefing room opened, and Harry, Neelix, and B'Elanna filed out.

"B'Elanna, we'll be needing those transporters," The Doctor said.

"On it," B'Elanna said.

* * *

" _ECH log, supplemental. All the crew have been transported back to_ Voyager _, and thanks to my experience with Lieutenant Torres, their treatment is proceeding rapidly. While they're recovering, I still have a few command duties left to perform._ "

"If it weren't for your efforts," the Quarren Ambassador said to Yerid as the two of them sat across from The Doctor, Neelix, and Harry Kim, "this whole conspiracy might never have been uncovered."

"I'm just glad it wasn't as many people as I feared," Yerid said.

The Doctor suppressed the urge to point out that had the conspiracy been that large it would've been statistically impossible to keep it a secret for as long as it had been.

"What'll happen to the workers?" Harry asked.

"Well," the Ambassador said, "we've identified several thousand of Kadan's patients. Once treated, they'll be repatriated. Thank you for sharing your notes with us, Doctor."

"No thanks necessary," The Doctor said. "It was the right thing to do."

"I apologize once more on behalf of my government," the Ambassador said. "But if you'll excuse us, there are some of Kadan's co-conspirators currently in hiding, and I imagine Investigator Yerid here would very much like to get to work on catching them.

"Gentlemen," Neelix said, "I can escort you to the transporter room."

* * *

"There is something I do not understand," Icheb said, as he stepped into his alcove.

"Just one?" Samantha said as she was helping put Naomi to bed.

Seven chuckled.

"Go ahead, Icheb," she said.

"Why was your marriage to Ensign Wildman left in place," Icheb said, "but not that of Lieutenants Paris and Torres?"

The cargo bay got quiet. Seven and Samantha looked at each other, the "I don't know, do you?" unspoken between them.

"Does it really matter?" Naomi said.

"Well, no," Seven said.

"But now I really wanna know," Sam said. "This is gonna drive me nuts, isn't it?"

"We may never know the reasoning," Seven said, "but perhaps you would settle for plausible possibility?"

"Sure. You have one?"

"I'll let you know when I do," Seven said.

* * *

Janeway felt both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time in her uniform. Her old memories had been restored, but the new ones were still there too. At least this time she wasn't getting PTSD out of the deal, but the mixed emotions were still unpleasant.

She was walking around her quarters, re-familiarizing herself with all her belongings, when the door to her quarters opened. Jaffen walked in, a Starflet security guard behind him.

"You can wait outside," Janeway said to the guard.

"Yes ma'am," he said.

"I can see why you'd rather live here," Jaffen said.

"I'd offer you a position," Janeway said. "We could always use another skilled engineer. But as a Captain, it wouldn't really be appropriate for me to fraternize with another member of the crew."

"Well, that's understandable. At least my memories weren't tampered with. Annika, or I guess I should call her Seven, was right. I really did come to Quarra looking for a better life. And since I've been offered a promotion, I guess I found it."

"Promotion?"

"They had to replace our shift supervisor," Jaffen said. "Something about acquiring shift workers illegally."

Janeway chuckled. "Well, you've earned it."

Jaffen nodded. "So, I guess I should take it. I mean, unless…"

"Well," Janeway said, moving closer to Jaffen. "I did say it's inappropriate for a Captain to fraternize with a member of her crew."

"But?"

"But we're 30,000 light years from home," Janeway said "If Starfleet doesn't like it they can't exactly fire me."

Jaffen smiled. "I was hoping you'd say something like that."

Captain Janeway and Jaffen embraced, and didn't stop for a good long while.

 **Chapter Eight**

Samantha Wildman saw Jaffen walking down the hall as she headed towards the bridge for her shift, and jogged up to walk beside him.

"Oh hi, Ensign Wildman," Jaffen said.

"Please," Samantha said, "you can call me Sam."

"I've only been here two weeks," Jaffen said. "I don't really feel comfortable enough to be so informal with my new shipmates just yet."

"Okay, fair enough," Sam said. "You heading to the bridge too?"

"No, actually," Jaffen said. "Mess hall. Neelix finally is gonna let me teach him how to make some Norvalian cuisine."

"Wow, how'd you pull that off? Neelix runs that kitchen like an authoritarian," Sam said, laughing.

"To put it bluntly, I think the fact that I'm sleeping with the Captain has something to do with it."

"Makes sense," Sam said. "Well, I need to go. Just don't be surprised if Neelix hovers over your shoulder the whole time."

"I consider myself warned," Jaffen said, offering Sam a salute as she stepped into the turbolift while he took a left.

Sam was proud of herself for not practically bouncing with excitement. Today was the day that Operation Watson was set to come to fruition. If it worked as Seven had explained it to her, it would mean that _Voyager_ could speak to the Alpha Quadrant every day instead of every 31. The communications window would still only be open for 11 hours a day, but even so that meant the amount of contact they had with home was set to increase exponentially.

* * *

Seven heard the door to astrometrics open, but didn't look to see who else came in. She knew the Captain was going to be there, but did not know who she'd brought with her. She focused on the task at hand. If anything was going to go wrong this would be when it would happen.

"Anything yet?" Janeway said.

"Not quite," Harry, operating the console facing the lab's large screen said. "I'm picking up a phased tachyon beam, but I can't-"

"It's Starfleet," Seven said. "There's a triaxiliating signal encoded in the beam."

"On screen," Janeway said.

The image on the screen was dark and staticky, and the sound coming through was garbled, but Seven could still make out was being said.

" _Voyager_ , this is Lieutenant Barclay at Starfleet Command." The image became clearer, slightly, but enough for Seven to make out the figures of Reginald Barclay, the man whose instructions in the last monthly datastream had helped make this possible, and Admiral Owen Paris, Tom's father. "Are you receiving this?"

"Can you clear it up?" Janeway said to Harry. Seven looked up briefly, and saw that it was Chakotay and Tuvok who had entered the room with the Captain.

"I'm on it," Harry said.

The image grew worse for a brief second, but then the static began to clear up. The signal was stable, though the image remained grainy. Seven doubted that the crew would care.

"Captain Janeway," Admiral Paris said. "A pleasure to speak with you face to face."

"The pleasure's mine, Admiral," Janeway said. "How's the weather in San Francisco?"

"Cold and rainy as usual," Admiral Paris said.

"Sounds delightful," Janeway said without a hint of sarcasm. "Lieutenant Barclay," she continued, "my congratulations on your project. If crew morale was high when we were able to speak to home monthly, this is going to the best news this ship has had since Naomi was born."

"Thank you, Captain," Barclay said, "but I can't take all the credit. If Seven and Harry hadn't been able to make the modifications to your deflector dish work…"

"The plans you sent us were ingenious, Lieutenant," Seven said. "Any flaws in the specifications can be blamed on you not being in the Delta Quadrant yourself."

Barclay's smile grew wider.

"It's only a shame we can't get around the 11 hour per Earth day limit," Admiral Paris said, "but as always we'll leave it up to you to determine how to allocate comm time."

"The system we have in place now seems to work fine," Janeway said. "We can just expand it to daily instead of monthly."

"Oh, one last thing," Barclay said, looking down to manipulate controls on his console. The image of him and the Admiral shrunk, revealing an image of Earth. "A gift for you and your crew. This is real-time, from McKinley station. As you can see, not much cloud cover over North America today."

"Quite a view," Janeway said. "Seven, record this for the rest of the crew."

"I already took care of that, Captain," Harry said.

"I have a question, if there's time," Chakotay said.

"Go ahead, Commander," Admiral Paris said.

"Might we able to adapt this communications system to contact some of the allies we've made along the way? Many of them are well out range of our own communications array now. I think it would be nice if we could update them on our progress, and possibly even get them in touch with the Federation directly."

Paris looked at Barclay who sighed. "The ones you've already passed, I don't think so. Not yet anyway. But, any friends your crew makes from here on out, just give them the signal code, and depending on the time of day they should be able to communicate with the Alpha Quadrant."

"It's an excellent idea, Commander," Admiral Paris said. "And certainly one the Federation Council considered earlier when Watson was being developed. Sadly, technology is what's keeping us from implementing it."

"Better that than politics," Chakotay said. "I understand."

* * *

The next day, the Doctor was in astrometrics, one of the first people to draw a low number on the newly organized lottery that was used to determine who would get to speak to the Alpha Quadrant that day.

"I can hear the critics already," the Bolian, Ardon Broht of Broht & Forrester, publisher of holo-novels said. "'A new voice has arrived.' You could be the next K'Ratak, or a modern day Tolstoy."

"If Tolstoy had written holo-novels," The Doctor said, smiling. "You are far too kind."

"I mean it," Ardon said. "I'd like to start distribution by the end of the month."

The Doctor was shocked, and a little concerned. If he had a stomach, he was sure he'd feel nauseous.

"Uh, the material I sent was only a working draft," he said. "I need time to make revisions."

"Well, if you insist. But please do it quickly."

"I will," The Doctor said. "So, tell me… what did you think of the characters?" he asked excitedly.

"Oh, they were very real," Ardon said. "Compelling. I almost forgot they were holograms."

If the Doctor's pride were a physical object capable of growth, it would've filled the room. He glanced to his side and saw Seven of Nine, at the controls, maintaining the link to the Alpha Quadrant. That was one problem that sadly not even she, Harry, and Reg Barclay putting their minds together could fix. Not yet, anyway.

"So, who was your favorite?" The Doctor prodded, returning his focus to the Bolian publisher.

"Without a doubt it'd have to be Lieuten-" The signal cut off before Ardon could finish his thought.

"What happened?" The Doctor said, worried.

"The 11 hours for today is up," Seven said.

"You could've let the man finish his sentence," The Doctor said, feeling annoyed.

"The position of the quantum singularity we are bouncing a tachyon signal off of says otherwise," Seven said. "Besides, I believe your ego has received enough stroking for the day."

"That's just mean, Seven," The Doctor said. "I suppose you're just feeling left out, since I never told you I was working on a holo-novel."

"Why would I feel left out?" Seven said. The Doctor realized she meant it.

"Well, once I've got the last draft completed, I'll share it you and Sam."

Seven raised an eyebrow. "What about Naomi or Icheb?"

"The material might be a little too… mature for them."

"It doesn't involve you painting nude pictures of me does it?"

"That only happened one time!"

* * *

Tom Paris completed his inventory of sickbay's stock. Normally he found the tasks assigned to him as the ship's nurse when he wasn't at the helm tedious, but he also had nothing better to do. B'Elanna was asleep, Sue Brooks was flying the ship during this shift, and he had traded his Alpha Quadrant communication slot with Harry so the latter would be able to speak to his mother on her birthday. The inventory was on his task list for tomorrow, but he figured if he got it done early that would free up some cartoon time for him and B'Elanna.

He turned when he heard the door open and saw The Doctor walking, whistling.

"So," Tom said, "who'd you talk to? Reg or Dr. Zimmerman?"

"I'll have you know," The Doctor said, "that I was speaking to Ardon Broht, of Broht & Forrester."

"The publishers of the _Dixon Hill_ series?" Tom said, genuinely surprised.

"And soon to be publishers of my work," The Doctor said.

"Oh. Well, congratulations," Tom said. "I didn't even know you were working on a holo-novel."

"I was waiting until at least the second draft before asking any crew members to give it a run through," The Doctor said.

"Fair enough. What's it about?"

"The adventures of an intrepid doctor," The Doctor said, picking up a PADD and starting to work on something, Tom couldn't tell if it was medical related or writing related.

"Writing what you know, huh?" Tom said, leaning on a console. "You know, I never thought about getting any of my work published. Maybe I could talk to your people about _Captain Proton_."

The Doctor paused, and looked pensive.

"I suppose I could put in a good word," he said. "A throwback to the science fiction of early 20th century Earth could appeal to the same people that like the _Dixon Hill_ series, itself a throwback to early detective stories. I hear that Captain Jean-luc Picard himself is a fan of those stories."

"Whoa," Tom said. "Now that would be something I'd give up an organ to see. Captain Picard playing _Captain Proton_. What an image."

"You know, my holo-novel could use a fresh pair of eyes. I have some additional revisions to do before I submit, Would you like to be my first user?"

"I'd be honored," Tom said. "Oh, what's it called, by the way?"

" _Photons Be Free_ ," The Doctor said, not even trying to hide his pride.

"Catchy," Tom said, leaving sickbay to find if either of the ship's holodecks were open. Finding both of them were, he opted for holodeck 2 since it was closest, and started up _Photons Be Free_.

It started with some voiceover that Tom found a little on the pretentious side, but he let it continue as a holographic desk with an old fashioned feather pen and ink quill on it appeared, followed soon by The Doctor, or rather a sort-of copy of the Doctor, wearing a smoking jacket, who continued the narration as he sat down at the desk and started writing in the book.

"First note," Tom muttered to himself, "tell the Doctor the prologue is too long."

"Ah, welcome," the "Doctor" said, putting down the quill and standing up. "You are about to take part in a thrilling first-person narrative. You will take on the role of an Emergency Medical Hologram, the chief medical officer aboard the starship _Vortex_."

"Oh boy," Tom said with a sigh.

"As our story begins, an accident with an ancient alien gateway has hurled your ship to the small but distant LMC galaxy."

 _LMC Galaxy? What- oh, the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. Okay, I can work with that._

"Your mission; to uphold your medical and ethical standards as you struggle against the crew's bigotry and intolerance of photonic lifeforms. Persons with vascular disorders should consult a physician before running this program. And now, a few acknowledgements. First-"

"Computer, freeze program," Tom said, rubbing his eyes, already having a bad feeling about where this was going. "And he got on my case about 'show don't tell' last time I let him… Computer, how much longer is this introduction?"

"Nine minutes, four seconds."

"Yeah, let's just skip to the first chapter."

"Chapter One. A Healer Is Born," The Doctor's voice said over a musical cue. "In which our protagonist must make a difficult choice."

The plain holodeck with a desk was now replaced with a recreation of _Voyager_ 's sickbay.

 _Not even trying to hide your inspiration there, Doc_ , Tom thought.

The room was dark, the red alert klaxons blaring, and several panels sparked. Every bio-bed was filled with injured patients while others lay on the floor, some with blankets over their heads. Tom saw that he was now in a blue uniform, but his communicator had a very different design from the usual Starfleet delta.

"Increase the resonance level by twenty percent!" a woman's voice from somewhere out of his line of sight yelled.

"Are you the EMH?" a gold shirt said, running up to him.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," Tom said, mimicking The Doctor's tone as best he could.

"Our doctor's dead, and we've got wounded," the gold shirt said. He directed Tom to two bio-beds, each occupied with a badly injured human. "Who do we treat first?"

 _Well, the chapter title certainly meant what it said_ , Tom thought as he pulled out his character's medical tricorder and scanned the human to his right.

"Second degree plasma burns," he said. He turned and scanned the second man. "He's got an aortic rupture," he added, his medic training under the Doctor taking over. "Get him to the surgical bay, now."

The gold shirt helped the wounded man over to another bio-bed, this one equipped with surgical gear.

"You!" a familiar voice yelled, and Tom turned to see Chakotay, or rather a Bajoran with a long ponytail and a very different facial tattoo who just happened to look a lot like Chakotay, said, helping a man who looked a lot like Paris himself but with a moustache so ridiculous Tom was afraid that the program would respond badly if he laughed at it.

"Over here!" Not-Chakotay said, helping Not-Paris into the newly vacant bio-bed. He ran his scanner over the latter.

"He's got a mild concussion," Tom said. "I'm going to have to treat the others first."

Not-Chakotay grabbed his arm. "I'm going to need Lieutenant Marseilles on the bridge."

 _Marseille? Really?_

"You're going to treat him now," Not-Chakotay continued.

"As I understand it," Tom said, "my job is to treat the critical patients first. So if you'll excuse me…" Tom headed towards the surgical bay to treat the man with the aortic rupture, when Not-Chakotay pushed a button and blocked his path with a force field.

"I don't know who you think you are, Hologram," Not-Chakotay said, putting enough venom behind the word Hologram to make it sound like an ethnic slur, "but to me you're just another piece of technology."

"Well, apparently, I'm a piece of technology that's in demand, so why don't you go back to the bridge and let me do my job?" Tom said.

The door opened and Tom turned to see this holo-novels ersatz Janeway walk in. The only physical difference Tom could make out was that this Janeway, whatever her new name was, had pitch black hair and a ponytail that seemed to be about the same length as Not-Chakotay's.

"What seems to be the problem?" she said.

"Our medical hologram refuses to treat Mr. Marseilles, Captain Jenkins." Not-Chakotay said.

"Are you malfunctioning?" Jenkins said, walking towards Tom in an intimidating manner.

"I don't think so," Tom said.

"I need my helmsman back at his station," she said.

 _That sounds like something Captain Janeway would say_ , Tom thought.

"Lieutenant Marseille isn't seriously hurt," Tom said. "This man," he motioned to the bio-bed in the surgical bay, "will be dead in five minutes if I don't operate."

"Drop the forcefield, Commander Katanay," Jenkins said, causing Tom to have to bite his lip to keep from groaning. The Commander did as he was told, and Jenkins walked past Tom, and before he could do anything she pulled out her phaser and shot the man awaiting surgery in the chest. The man groaned, then his head slumped to the side. He was no longer breathing.

"What the f-" Tom started to say, but was cut off.

"That patient is dead," Jenkins said as casually as if she were ordered coffee from the replicator. "Now you're free to treat Lieutenant Marseille."

* * *

"Then the Captain pulls out a phaser," Tom said as Neelix refilled his coffee, "and shoots him. Right there, on the bio-bed."

Tom sipped his coffee as he looked at Sam, Seven, Harry, and Jaffen to gauge their reactions. None of them seemed to be taking Tom's description of the Doctor's holo-novel seriously.

"I don't see Kathy doing anything like that," Jaffen said.

"Well, obviously," Tom said. "But this Jenkins character looked like her, had her voice, her last name even started with the same letter. If I'd written something like this I'd be thrown in the brig for insubordination."

Harry shook his head.

"What was my name, again?" he said.

"You're Kymble," Tom said. "A Trill. B'Elanna's name is Torrey and she's full human in the story, and I'm Lieutenant Marseille."

"Very creative," Sam said with a smirk.

"I don't get it," Jaffen said.

"Did you say anything to the Doctor?" Harry said.

"I don't know what to say," Tom said. "He thinks he's written a masterpiece." He shook his head and added, "If this gets distributed, people are gonna think this is about us."

"I'm pretty sure you're exaggerating, Tom," Harry said.

"Run it yourself if you don't believe me," Tom said.

"I can't," Harry said. "Not today anyway. After my shift I'm talking to my parents."

"How about you, Jaffen?" Tom said. "Up for witnessing what character assassination looks like?"

Jaffen sighed. "I gotta be honest, I don't like the holodeck very much. It's just too realistic for my tastes. I love a good story, but I think I'll stick to hearing or reading them over being involved with them."

Tom shrugged. "I can respect that."

"I'm already off shift," Samantha said. "I'll give it a go. Annie's on Alpha Quadrant communication duty again today, and Naomi and Icheb are getting remedial transporter technology lessons from Lieutenant Kitrick. I quite literally have nothing better to do."

"I still think Tom's exaggerating," Harry said, looking at her.

"People back home probably won't take it literally," Tom said, "but they might wonder if there's a grain of truth to it."

"I doubt your people would think you go around shooting injured crewmen," Jaffen said. "The worst freighter crews I've ever worked with wouldn't even go that far."

"I think maybe we should bring this to the Captain," Tom said.

"Tom-" Harry said, but Tom raised a hand to cut him off.

"Look," he said, "Sam said she'd play through it. If she thinks I'm overreacting, I'll let it go. Okay?"

"Sounds fair to me," Jaffen said.

"Okay," Harry said.

"I'll give it a try too," Neelix said. "Sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop, but you weren't exactly being discreet."

"Okay, it's settled then." Tom said. "Sam and Neelix will be my second and third opinions."

* * *

"Chapter Five," the Doctor's voice said, "'Out of the Frying Pan.' In which our protagonist must confront abusive colleagues."

"Because they've just been so nice up to now," Sam said, through gritted teeth.

A female human in a gold shirt entered sickbay. Sam at least appreciated that this one didn't look like just a slightly modified copy of one of her actual crewmates, though she thought that maybe, just maybe, this crew member had Lydia Anderson's hair, if not her complexion.

"I'm here for my physical," she said.

 _Why does she sound like she's flirting with me?_ Sam thought. _And also, was that a Delaney sister's voice I'm hearing?_

"Have a seat right over here," Sam said in character. She took out her medical tricorder, when the door opened and the fake Tom Paris, Lieutenant Marseille, walked in.

"Doctor," he said, looking panicked. "We need you down in engineering."

"What's wrong?" Sam said.

"A plasma conduit exploded," Marseille said. "At least ten people are hurt."

 _Okay, so far the chapter title seems pretty misleading, but I'll at least see how far this goes,_ Sam thought. She went over to the table where the story's equivalent to the Doctor's mobile emitter, here represented by a bulky backpack sized piece of half-organic technology in the vein of a Species 8472 ship, and strapped it on, glad that the holo novel's parameters didn't prohibit her from adjusting the weight.

She bolted out of sickbay and headed for engineering, but as she approached, it hit her. There were no alert klaxons, and she hadn't run across anyone else fleeing engineering from the carnage that Marseille had implied.

"Wait a minute…" she said, as she casually strolled into engineering. As expected, there were no signs of explosion whatsoever, and the entire engineering staff, including B'Elanna's human counterpart, Torrey, who was praising a subordinate. Torrey saw Sam, and glowered at her.

"How many times have I told you," she said, sounding exactly the way B'Elanna would when she was angry, "engineering is off-limits to holograms."

"Yes, well," Sam said, realizing exactly what was going on, "maybe you should remind your husband of that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Lieutenant Marseille told me there was a plasma conduit explosion down here. Obviously he was mistaken. Or lying."

Torrey shoved Sam, and waved a spanner in her face. "You're a tool on this ship, just like this spanner. And tools can be replaced. My marriage is none of your business. Now scuttle off back to sickbay you photonic twerp."

Sam stepped back, and as quickly as she could manage without completely losing her dignity, she went back to sickbay where, to her complete lack of surprise, the light had been turned off, and the sounds of two people having sex filled the room.

 _Don't be in the surgical bay, don't be in the surgical bay, don't be in the surgical bay…_

"Computer, lights," Sam said. Sure enough, Marseille and the female crew member were on the bio-bed in the surgical bay.

"If you even think of mentioning this to my wife," Marseille said, not even trying to offer up a pitiful excuse, which Sam actually appreciated though she'd never say it out loud, "I will purge your memory buffer. Do we understand each other?"

"Considered what I just saw," Sam said, "I may actually ask you to purge my memory buffer."

"Fancy yourself some kind of comedian there, Hologram?"

 _Just a few more chapters_ , Sam reminded herself.

* * *

"Chapter Six, 'Duel in the Ready Room,'" the Doctor's narration voice said. Sam now found herself in the ready room of Captain Jenkins. It looked almost exactly like Captain Janeway's ready room, except for the weapons arranged on the rear wall like trophies, including an 18th century flintlock pistol. Sam managed to get a close look at it before the scene began and saw the little plaque under it claim it was the gun Aaron Burr had used to kill Alexander Hamilton, two names that sounded familiar to Sam, though she couldn't quite place them. The Doctor's narration continued.

"In which our protagonist faces an inquisition."

Captain Jenkins sat behind her desk, casually cleaning her fingernails.

"This time you've gone too far," Jenkins said, pointing a weapon at Sam.

"I'm not sure what you mean," Sam said, affecting nervousness.

Jenkins tossed the weapon onto the desk and picked up a PADD.

"An inventory of your holo-matrix," she said. "50 gigaquads of memory devoted to music, 42 for 'daydreams,' and another ten to expand your sexuality."

 _Doctor, if you are having sex with my wife in this novel I will rewrite your program so I can strangle you,_ Sam thought.

"These extracurricular subroutines don't belong," Jenkins said, standing up and moving around her desk to get in Sam's face, "as part of an emergency _medical_ hologram. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"Um, of course," Sam said. "I don't think these subroutines are trivial, Captain. They help make me a better doctor. And a better person."

"You're not a person," Jenkins said. "You may be programmed to look and act human, but that doesn't make you one. These subroutines are to be deleted immediately. Mr. Tulak, Mr. Kymble" she added, tapping a button on her desk.

 _Oh, I think this is the first time I get to meet Tuvok's analog_ , Sam thought, turning around.

'Tulak' entered, looking exactly like Tuvok, only human-looking though Sam supposed he could be a Betazoid or a Bijani, with a goatee. Sam had to admit she liked the look. The Trill version of Harry was right behind him. The room filled with dramatic music, and it took everything Sam had to keep from laughing.

"Take the EMH to the Holo-Lab for reprogramming," Jenkins said. Kymble and Tulak each took out their phaser with one hand, while their opposite hands each took one of Sam's arms and led her to the turbolift.

"Chapter Seven," the Doctor's voice said again. "'The Escape.' In which-"

"Wait, wait, computer freeze program," Sam said. "Was that it? Chapter Six was just the one exchange in the captain's ready room?"

"Correct," the computer replied.  
"But, but, how… Doctor why would you even... I just... Ah screw it. Computer, restart from chapter beginning."

"Chapter Seven. 'The Escape.' In which our protagonist is aided by his only ally."

 _Three of Eight, a.k.a. my wife as a ginger_ , Sam thought, remembering her from a previous chapter. _Well, at least I'll have something nice to look at during this chapter. This still better not end in a sex scene though._

"I'm not sure we should be doing this, Commander," Kymble said as the three of them entered the turbolift. Sam was about to thank Kymble for speaking up for her, but he continued talking. "If we tinker with his matrix, we might accidentally delete some of his diagnostic subroutines?"

Tulak chuckled. "Why? Afraid you'll catch something on your next away mission, Ensign?"

"There must be millions of viruses in this galaxy that no one's ever encountered before."

"I doubt it's that many," Tulak said. "The LMC is smaller in diameter than the entire Alpha Quadrant back home."

"So?" Kymble said. "With my luck I'll probably end up catching half of them."

The turbolift door opened, and there stood Three of Eight. The hair was not only a different color from Seven's, but she wore it much looser. Instead of her visible Borg implants being on her eyebrow and hand, she had a pair of implants that hung from her earlobes like earrings, another that wrapped around her neck like a necklace, and a third on her wrist that looked like a bracelet. To Sam she looked less like a former Borg or more like someone with odd taste in jewelry. Three of Eight was also in the brown jumpsuit that Seven had been wearing when she and Sam had had dinner together for the first time. Sam didn't like the look very much. Except for the hair.

"I will take the prisoner from here," she said.

"Our orders were to escort him to the Holo-Lab," Tulak said.

"I've been ordered to perform the procedure," Three of Eight said.

"Your sympathies for the EMH are no secret, Three," Tulak said in a menacing tone. He pointed his phaser at her now. "Step aside."

Three of Eight nodded, and did as she was told. Tulak and Kymble walked behind Sam, phasers pointed at her back. They walked down the corridor towards the Holo-Lab. She heard the sound of buttons being pushed, and turned in time to see the two men walk face first into a force field, Kymble falling to the ground immediately, while Three of Eight struck Tulak in the neck and swiped his phaser. She lowered the forcefield and tossed the phaser her way.

"Run, Doctor," she yelled. Sam took the phaser and ran, though she had no idea where to go. On top of that, the backpack emitter she'd been wearing all but non-stop since Chapter Five was starting to feel like more of a burden. She wondered if the Doctor had coded it into the program that it would start to feel it's default weight at certain points in the story for dramatic purposes.

She ran, looking behind her, and nearly fell backwards as she hit another force field, and two guards came up the corridor behind her.

"Oh come on, Doc," she muttered. "Couldn't give me more of a chance? You could cut the dramatic tension with a sneeze, it's so thin."

The guards didn't respond as they dragged her away. After a long, and in Sam's opinion tedious kangaroo court scene, she finally reached the end of the story.

"Chapter Eight. 'A Tragic End,' in which our protagonist learns his fate." The Doctor's voice was nearly drowned out by the score as two guards removed the mobile emitter, a third guard who looked like a bulkier Lieutenant Ayala gripping Three of Eight by the arm. They were all back in sickbay, and Sam was standing face to face with Captain Jenkins.

"I've tried to do this the easy way," Jenkins said. "But it's clear you're not going to be reasonable. Your matrix will be decompiled and reinitialized. You'll remain off-line, except for emergencies."

"'Kay," Sam said, shrugging. Frankly she was just glad this was over with. Photons Be Free was easily only half as long as _Captain Proton_ , but at least she liked that one, though only when she did it with Seven.

"Ready," Torrey said. Sam decided that The Doctor had not foreseen that anyone playing him in this story might just accept their fate at the end, since no one seemed to register her lack of pathos.

"Do it," Jenkins said.

"Wait," Three of Eight said, pleading. "He has the right to expand his program."

"He's a piece of technology," Jenkins said. "He has no rights."

"But he should," Three said. "One day the EMH and others like him will be recognized for what they are; intelligent individuals with a passion for life. Make no mistake, Captain. We may be millions of light years from home, but one day people will learn of the crime you're committing here today."

"Nice speech," Jenkins said, before looking Sam in the eyes. "Now decompile the program."

The decompiling scene was represented by all of Sam's surroundings blurring and fading to blackness. The holodeck itself was now pitch black, leaving Sam feeling uncomfortably blind.

"Okay, nice touch with the dark, I'll give him that," Sam said.

When the lights came on, the holodeck was back to it's normal state when not in use. A second later, the desk reappeared, the Doctor, or his avatar for lack of a better term, in his smoking jacket still sitting behind it. He closed the book and put the quill pen back in the ink bottle as he stood up.

"What you've experienced, dear protagonist, is a work of fiction."

"You don't say."

"But like all fiction," The Doctor's avatar said, "it has elements of truth. I hope you now have a better understanding of the struggles holographic life must endure in a world controlled by organics." A drum beat followed the last word, and the program ended, the desk and everything else gone, leaving Sam alone in an empty holodeck.

"End of program," the computer said.

Sam touched her comm badge. "Ensign Wildman to Captain Janeway," she said.

"Janeway here. What is it, Sam?"

"I have a concern."

* * *

The Doctor wondered why he'd been summoned to the captain's ready room. When he arrived he wondered why Tom Paris and Samantha Wildman were there.

"Doctor," Captain Janeway said, "I hear you've written a holo-novel."

The Doctor smiled, proud that the Captain had heard of his work, then quickly realized the tone with which she said it. And the frowns on Tom and Sam's faces.

 _Uh-oh_ , he thought.

"Is there a problem, Captain?"

"Oh, I didn't think so at first," Janeway said, crossing her arms. "Even after hearing what Tom and Sam had to say. After all, Neelix said he actually liked it, so I decided to give a try myself."

"Oh? What did you think?" The Doctor said, even though he could tell from the look on Janeway's face what her answer was going to be.

She told him what she thought, and it was not kind. Tom and Sam chimed in as well, largely agreeing with the captain. The only additional note Ensign Wildman had was what the Doctor felt was a nitpick about Chapter 6 being too short.

"I don't understand why the concern," The Doctor said. "My work is not about the _Voyager_ crew."

"Really?" Tom said. "Lieutenant Marseille? Ensign Kymble? The characters look almost exactly like us."

"I used your physical parameters as a starting point, true," The Doctor said, "but I assure you any further similarities are purely coincidental."

"You set your story on a starship thrown light years away from home by alien technology," Sam said.

"And Marseille is married to Lieutenant Torrey," Tom added.

"Captain Jenkins," was Janeway's sole contribution to the counterargument, and, sheepishly, The Doctor had to admit they may have had a point. He still felt he was being treated unfairly though.

"Well, what would you have me do? Write a story about palace intrigue on the Klingon homeworld? Or maybe a story about a threat to all sentient life in the galaxy that turns to just be a broken A.I. in the thrilling anti-climax? I do what all good authors do. I write what I know."

"That's terrible advice," Sam said.

"Though it would explain why there are so many mediocre holo-novels about Academy professors contemplating adultery," Tom added. "Oh, and speaking of adultery…"

"Doctor," Janeway said, "you've written a very imaginative story, but it's conceivable that people will think it's based on fact."

"I don't see how," The Doctor said.

"How many holograms carry mobile emitters?" Tom said.

"The emitter in my story is nothing like the real one," The Doctor said. This was getting absurd, but he didn't want to risk offending the Captain now. After all, if she wanted she could give the order to block him from sending his project to the Alpha Quadrant.

"What was the point of making it that big anyway?" Sam said.

"It's a metaphor," The Doctor said. "A symbol of the burdens I live with everyday. Imagine having to take this," he touched the mobile emitter on his shoulder," everywhere you go with you, every day? It's like a constant reminder that you're different from everyone else. I wanted the player to feel the weight of it. Literally."

"In Starlfeet we celebrate our differences, Doctor," Janeway said. "I won't pretend I know what it's like to be a computer program that attained sentience through circumstance, and I think it's admirable you want the users of your holo-novels to feel what you've felt these past six, almost seven years. I don't want to come across as completely unsympathetic, but your metaphor is flawed. Your emitter isn't a ball and chain. It liberates you. Without it you'd be confined to sickbay and the holodecks."

"It doesn't always feel that way," The Doctor said.

"Doctor," Janeway said, uncrossing her arms and leaning forward on the desk, looking concerned. "Do you feel oppressed aboard this ship? Because if so, I'd be more than willing to-"

"It's not me, Captain," The Doctor said. "Though I appreciate the concern. It's about my brothers in the Alpha Quadrant; my fellow Mark-Is."

"Oh," Sam said. "I.. Now that I know that-"

"It's still badly written, Sam," Tom said.

"I know that," Sam said, "It's just-"

"I'd like to finish my conversation with the Doctor alone," Janeway said. "You two are dismissed."

"Yes, Captain," Tom and Sam said, roughly in unison, quickly vacating the ready room.

"You were saying about your 'brothers?'" Janeway said.

"Hundreds of EMH Mark-I's, like me in every respect, except they've been condemned to a menial existence. Scrubbing conduits, mining dilithium… There's a long history of writers drawing attention to the plight of the oppressed."

"Setting aside for the moment how this story and it's thinly veiled counterparts to your friends will make them feel," Janeway said, "there is a difference between the Mark-Is and yourself you're overlooking."

"Which is?"

"None of them have attained sentience," Janeway said. "To put it bluntly, they are still holograms. You're not. You aren't like Commander Data from the _Enterprise_ , you weren't created to be sentient, but you are an organic lifeform like he is. No hologram ever has been. Those that have attained sentience, at least to my knowledge have all been the results of accidents, or in your case sheer necessity. It's because we had no other medical personnel on board, and frankly still don't despite Tom's additional training, that made you what you are. I appreciate the sympathy you have for the other holograms that look like you Doctor, but you're mistaken in your belief that they share the same level of sentience, or even the same desires as you."

The Doctor sighed. "If my work offends my colleagues, than I apologize for that. But if the price of expressing myself is having to deal with the scorn of some of them, then so be it."

Janeway sighed.

"Just keep what I said in mind," she said, "before you send a finished draft of _Photons Be Free_ to your publisher. You're dismissed."

The Doctor nodded, stood up, and left.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to be there?" Seven said to Samantha as they got into bed.

"I'm sure I'll get a chance to speak to her soon enough," Sam said. "This is your first chance getting to speak to your Aunt, the only living blood relative you have. The day after tomorrow should be just for you."

"You aren't worried that it'd go like-"

"God no," Sam said, shuddering slightly. Seven felt guilty for having even mentioned it. "Sorry, just, I'm still kind of bitter about the way Mom spoke to you."

Seven gently stroked the side of Sam's face.

"I know literally nothing about Aunt Irene," Seven said, "but I bet she'd adore you. And Naomi and Icheb as well."

"I hope so," Sam said.

"Changing the subject, I understand you tried out the Doctor's holonovel earlier today," Seven said. "How was it?"

"Oh, don't even get me started," Sam said with a heavy sigh.

"That's unfortunate," Seven said.

Sam propped herself on her elbows and proceeded to summarize the story of _Photons Be Free._ When she was done, Seven was unsure how to feel.

"If there's one positive I can give it," Sam said, "it's that you looked hot as a redhead."

"Yes, I imagine I did," Seven said.

* * *

"Chief medical officer's personal log, stardate 54740.8," The Doctor said into his PADD as he walked towards holodeck 1. "Although the decision has made me unpopular with the crew, I've decided not to compromise my work. I'm making some final revisions to the program before transmitting it. End recording."

The door to the holodeck opened and he stepped in. "Computer, run EMH program _Photons Be Free_."

The program started, and the Doctor's eyes widened when he saw his desk, his smoking jacket, his quill pen and blank book, but instead of his own image, he saw Tom Paris.

"What the hell?"

"Welcome," the holographic Lieutenant Paris said. "You're obviously a person with impeccable taste."

"Computer, freeze program," The Doctor said angrily.

"Unable to comply," the computer said.

"You are about to embark," Tom said, getting up and walking around to the front of the desk, "on a remarkable journey. You will take on the role of a medical assistant aboard the starship _Voyeur_."

" _Voyeur?_ " The Doctor said, even more angry now.

"Your job will be to assist the Chief Medical officer," Tom's image continued, "and learn to tolerate his overbearing behavior and obnoxious bedside manner."

The Doctor felt his rage rising.

"I will make you pay for this Mister Paris," The Doctor said, practically growling. "I don't know how yet, but I will make you pay."

"Remember," Tom said, sitting on the edge of the desk, "patience is a virtue." He then vanished, and shortly thereafter so did the desk as the holodeck shifted into the story, or at least whatever the real Tom had done to it. Visually so far, everything seemed the same, down to the _Voyeur's_ sickbay looking like the one from both the _Vortex_ and _Voyager_.

"'Chapter One,'" Paris's voice said, "It's the Doctor's World, You're Just Living In It.'"

"When I tell you the shift begins at 0800," a voice said, and The Doctor, now wearing a red shirt from some reason, turned to see himself, only with hair, yelling at him.

 _A terrible comb over?_ The Doctor thought. _Is that what Tom really thinks I'd look like with hair?_

"That doesn't mean," the "Doctor" said, still ranting, "you can just stroll in here at 0800 and 24 seconds!"

The Doctor, despite being a hologram, still felt the urge to shudder. It was a bizarre experience getting yelled at by yourself, to put it mildly. He glanced and saw Three of Eight, the character he'd created loosely based on Seven of Nine, sitting on the edge of the bio-bed in the surgical bay, favoring her shoulder.

"Do you understand me Ensign?!" The "Doctor" yelled.

"This is outrageous," The Doctor said, hating how this version of his main character that Tom had corrupted was treating him.

"What's outrageous," The "Doctor" said, holding up a golf club, "is that I'm going to miss my tee time. Now come along."

The "Doctor" jerked his head towards Three of Eight, motioning for The Doctor to follow him.

"Aw, what seems to be the trouble One of Three?" The "Doctor" said in what The Doctor was sure the most condescending tone of voice he'd heard in his almost seven years of existence.

"I'm Two of Three," she replied, sounding like a sad and scared child.

"Sorry," The "Doctor" said with a snide chuckle. "They're triplets you know," he added to The Doctor with a lascivious wink.

 _You turned me into a pervert? Dammit, Tom!_

"It hurts when I do this," Two of Three said, trying to rotate her shoulder, and wincing after being unable to complete the motion.

"Well, then don't do it," The "Doctor" said, laughing, slapping Two of Three on the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Oh, don't be a baby," The "Doctor" said, The Doctor wanting to intervene but being held back by his sheer revulsion at the scene playing out before him.

 _I'm not even flesh and blood and I feel like I need a sonic shower_ , he thought.

The "Doctor" pulled his medical tricorder and did a half-assed scan of Two of Three, rolling his eyes as he did so.

"Eh, your bi-radial clamp's out of alignment," he said. He tossed the medical tricorder recklessly onto a tray "I've got just the thing," he said, picking up a hypo-spray. He leaned in to whisper to The Doctor.

"A Klingon aphrodisiac," he said. "My own special blend."

The Doctor's eyes widen in horror and his jaw dropped.

"No, no, no," The Doctor said as The "Doctor" pressed the hypospray into Two of Three's neck and started rubbing her shoulders.

"You'll feel better in no time at all,"

"Mmm," Two of Three went, starting to smile even as she started swaying as though intoxicated.

"No, no, no no no, for the love of everything good and decent _computer end program_!"

Whatever Tom had done to the program caused it to continue, despite The Doctor's repeated protests, the horrible scene playing out before him, completely ignoring his attempts to stop it. Eventually he gave up and just covered his eyes.

* * *

Tom Paris looked at his PADD and the list of revisions he'd made to The Doctor's holonovel, and frowned.

"Hmm. Maybe I should try to dial it back if it's not too late," he muttered to himself. "This is a little over the top, even for the point I'm trying to make." He stopped and looked up when he heard the unmistakable sound of someone walking angrily behind him in the hallway. People didn't believe him when he said that the sound Starfleet issue boots when they connected with a Starfleet issue carpet was different when the person wearing said boots was angry, but he knew that that sound could mean only one thing. He was proved right when The Doctor came around the corner, glaring at him.

"Lieutenant!" The Doctor shouted. "I want you to know I'm making a full report to the Captain."

"This isn't about that dermal regenerator I misplaced is it?" Tom said.

"You know very well what this is all about. You accessed my holonovel without permission, and replaced it with your own hackneyed narrative!"

 _That's the part he's most upset about?_ Tom thought remembering the scene he'd been regretting writing at the moment The Doctor caught up with him. _Well, at least I think I still made my point._

"Well, hey, just writing what I know," Tom said.

"You destroyed a work of art that took months to create," The Doctor said, practically growling.

"Relax, Doc," Tom said. "I saved your program in a backup file. I was trying to make a point. One I hope you got."

"You made it with a typical lack of subtlety," The Doctor said.

"Oh, you're one to talk," Tom said. "Your program is about as subtle as a Ferengi mating dance. Although I imagine most Ferengi mating dances don't portray me as an adulterer or Captain Janeway as a murderer, or Harry Kim as a hypochondriac, or-"

"My program was a serious attempt at social commentary!" The Doctor yelled. He stopped yelling briefly as a crew member walked past them, at which point he lowered his voice while still trying to convey anger. "You had me drugging a patient and taking advantage of her."

"Okay, I admit that was a little bit much," Tom said.

"A little?!"

 _And here comes the coup de grace_ , Tom thought, hoping that finally The Doctor would at last understand why he, Samantha Wildman, the Captain, and a few others since the initial meeting about _Photons Be Free_ in the Captain's ready room were so upset.

"Don't be ridiculous," Tom said. "That character's not you. I just used your physical parameters as a starting point. But what if some people ran that program and thought that it _was_ based on you? That would bother you, wouldn't it?"

"I don't care what people think," The Doctor said.

Tom rolled his eyes. "Well that much is obvious."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The Doctor said.

"If you cared, then you might actually take into account the feelings of your shipmates about your attempt at social commentary. I've watched 20th century Earth propaganda films that were more subtle."

"Subtlety is a writing tool, like flashbacks, or the unreliable narrator, or any other choice a writer can make. It's not mandatory."

Tom sighed and shook his head.

"You really don't get my point at all," he said. "I can live with strangers in the Alpha Quadrant thinking I'm like Lieutenant Marseille. What really kills me is that that's how you see me. I thought I'd begun to earn your respect. Maybe I was wrong."

"How can you say that?" The Doctor said. "You're nothing like Marseille."

"I've certainly never cheated on my wife," Tom said, "and I'd rather die than have a moustache like that, but come on. Ace pilot? Married to the chief engineer? My eyes and hair?"

The Doctor didn't seem to have a response to that, but he didn't look apologetic either.

"The original program is under file Theta-One-Five. Do whatever you want with it," Tom said, and walked away before the Doctor could respond.

* * *

The Doctor stared at his desk monitor, pondering just how he should phrase today's routine medical report, when he heard the door open. He looked up and saw Neelix walk in.

"Doctor, I need your help," Neelix said. His tone indicated that whatever it was even Neelix didn't think it was serious, so he didn't bother to stand up just yet.

"What is it Mister Neelix?" The Doctor said.

"I was wondering you could take a quick look at this," Neelix said, handing The Doctor a PADD.

"Cooking with Neelix," The Doctor said, reading the text aloud. "A culinary tour of the Delta Quadrant."

"It's a proposal for a holo-cookbook I'm putting together," Neelix said. "I was hoping to transmit it to your publisher during my com-link this afternoon. With your permission of course. And advice as well. There are species in the Federation that don't have any representatives on _Voyager_ , so I don't have a frame of reference for what of my cooking they can safely eat. I've never had to cook for an Elerian for instance. Or a Trill, or-"

"I see your point," The Doctor said, dismissively.

"Something wrong, Doctor?" Neelix said, sitting down in a chair opposite The Doctor's.

"Let's say if you want writing tips, there are a number of people on this ship eager to offer them," The Doctor said.

"Ah, I see," Neelix said. "Well, for what it's worth, I actually enjoyed your holonovel."

"I'd heard that, yes," The Doctor said, smiling slightly. "You'd think the rest of the crew would be happy for me; for my chance to be appreciated as an artist as well as a doctor."

"You're going to reach a wide audience," Neelix said. "Why worry about the opinions of a few disgruntled shipmates?"

"They're my friends," The Doctor said. "I don't want to hurt them."

Neelix shrugged. "You could make some slight adjustments," he said. "Alter physical characteristics, make the interior of the _Vortex_ look less like _Voyager_ , stuff like that. I doubt it would effect the story any."

The Doctor thought about it, and realized that not only was Neelix right, so were Tom, and Samantha, and the Captain. He sighed.

"I could do that, but that level of revision could take weeks. My publisher's expecting a final draft tomorrow."

Neelix reached into his pocket, and handed a dead isolinear chip with a number on it to The Doctor.

"Maybe you should give him a call," Neelix said.

"You're giving up your slot for me?"

"Well, it's not as if I have any friends in the Alpha Quadrant," Neelix said. "My options are to talk to your publisher about the cookbook, or see Lieutenant Barclay's cat."

* * *

"Revisions?" Ardon Broht said, sounding perplexed.

"I need to re-work the characters," The Doctor said.

"Why? They're so believable," the publisher said. The Doctor laughed nervously at that, glancing at Seven of Nine who was manning a console, making sure the connection with the Alpha Quadrant remained stable. If she'd had any opinions on _Photons Be Free_ , she'd kept them to herself. Hopefully, if she felt as offended as Samantha had been, this would go a long way towards fixing that.

"A little too believable, apparently," The Doctor said. "Some of my colleagues were a bit put off by the physical resemblances to my characters."

"And the names," Seven of Nine said without turning away from the console.

"Yeah, I should probably change those too," The Doctor admitted.

"Doctor," Ardon said, "I really don't think this is necessary."

"I'm afraid I have to insist," The Doctor said. "My friends' reputations are at stake."

The Bolian on the screen sighed. "Very well. I won't distribute the story until I've received the revised version."

"Thank you, Mister Broht," The Doctor said, smiling. "Thank you so much."

Ardon nodded, but didn't say anything as he reached off-screen and the communication cut off.

"I believe Mister Tassoni is up next," Seven of Nine said. "If he's waiting outside, send him in and I will attempt to put him through to whomever he wishes to speak to."

"Of course," The Doctor said. "And, Seven? I apologize if my holonovel made you uncomfortable."

"It did not," Seven said, "though that is simply because I did not play it. My knowledge is entirely second hand and comes from Samantha. However, I am not mad at you."

"Oh. That's good to hear," The Doctor said, smiling

"I was," Seven said, causing the Doctor to lose his smile. "But then I heard what Mister Paris had done in his effort to 'teach you a lesson.' Now I am mad at him. As is Samantha, who I believe intends to lecture Mister Paris about how _not_ to integrate sexual assault into a work of fiction."

The Doctor couldn't help but laugh. "If you're there when the conversation happens, please take pictures. I want to see the look on Tom's face."

"No promises," Seven said.

* * *

Reginald Barclay walked into the lab where Admiral Paris was talking to one of the new technicians that had recently joined the Voyager Project. For the first time since regular contact with _Voyager_ had been established though, he was coming in with less than good news for the Admiral.

It wasn't bad news, which was why Barclay wasn't nervous about delivering it, even though he knew deep down that Owen Paris was never one to 'shoot the messenger' as the ancient saying went. But it wasn't good.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Admiral," Reg said. "But I believe you should see this."

Admiral Paris simply nodded and took the PADD. "Is this a holonovel?"

"Yes, sir. One about _Voyager_. And one that doesn't portray the crew in a very flattering light."

"Unfortunate," Admiral Paris said, "but I don't see how it's an issue."

"I would agree, sir, except for the fact that it's becoming quite popular."

"Hmm," Admiral Paris said, sitting down with the PADD. "I'll look into the details of this. Thank you for being the one to bring it to my attention. I'll let you know what I decide to do about this."

"Yes, sir," Barclay said.

* * *

Seven of Nine wasn't too concerned about why Admiral Paris had asked for Captain Janeway to be summoned to astrometrics. Whatever the reason she was going to find out by default, being the one maintaining the link. She was more concerned about how the crew members who had their communications time pushed back as a result.

"On screen," the Captain said as she walked in. Seven nodded, and brought up the communications link. "Admiral, Seven's message said it was urgent."

"Captain," Admiral paris said, "I've had the dubious privilege of playing a new holonovel."

 _Uh-oh_ , Seven thought, already realizing where this was going.

"One apparently written by your EMH," Admiral Paris continued.

"What?" Janeway said, shocked into informality by the Admiral's statement.

"I'm surprised that you would allow your Doctor to discredit your crew like this."

"He's still making revisions," Captain Janeway said. "The program shouldn't have been distributed yet."

"Well it has been," Admiral Paris said. "Mister Barclay tells me it's already being played in thousands of holosuites."

Seven looked at the screen, and back at Janeway, whose fist was clenched by her side, out of view of the Admiral.

"Ardon Broht," Janeway said. "The publisher. He told the Doctor he wouldn't release the work until the new version had been sent."

"I'd like to hear the Doctor's side of the story," Admiral Paris said.

"Of course, sir," Janeway said. Tapping her comm badge to summon The Doctor to astrometrics.

* * *

The Doctor was satisfied that the Admiral was not going to reprimand him for the story, but that was small consolation to The Doctor.

"Seven," Janeway said, "while we still have the link, open a channel to Ardon Broht."

"Aye, Captain," Seven said.

"I can't promise I'll be civil about this, Captain," The Doctor said. "I have never felt this kind of betrayal before."

"Don't worry," Janeway said. "I've got your back on this. He had no right to do that to you."

"I have a link established," Seven said.

"On screen," Janeway said.

"Hello, Captain. Doctor. How may I help you?" Ardon said.

"You promised me you would wait for my revisions!" The Doctor shouted. "I even have a witness," he added, pointing at Seven of Nine. Ardon responded with a shrug.

"I demand," The Doctor continued, "that you retract every copy and that you issue a public apology!"

"I won't do anything of the sort," Ardon said.

"I don't see that you have a choice," Janeway said. "Creators have rights to their intellectual property."

"Not in this case," Ardon Broht said. "The Doctor is a hologram."

"So?" The Doctor said.

"According to Federation law, holograms have no rights."

"He's more than just a hologram," Janeway said. "He's as much a synthetic lifeform as any other. Would you have done to Commander Data?"

"Mister Data was created to be sentient," Ardon said. "Holograms are not."

"Irrelevant," Janeway said. "Just because The Doctor's sentience was obtained through happenstance rather than design-"

The captain stopped talking when the static on the screen started getting worse.

"Seven?" she said.

"I'm losing the signal," Seven said. "I'm attempting to boost it."

"You should proud, Doctor," Ardon said. "Your story is very popular on Risa, Rigel IV, and other heavily populate-" The signal went away.

"My apologies," Seven said. "I am not sure why the signal was lost earlier than usual today. Perhaps there was a solar flare somewhere near the Midas array."

"It's not your fault, Seven," Janeway said. "My priority right now is figuring out how to fix this." She turned and left astrometrics, leaving The Doctor standing there, feeling defeated. He looked at Seven, who offered him a look of sympathy.

"I can't believe this," he said. "All these centuries, and there are still people out there who will try to take advantage of artists. I might've expected something like this from the Orion Syndicate, or the Ferengi, but a Federation citizen?"

"Synthetic life," Seven said, "despite having a rather famous representative in Commander Data of the _Enterprise_ , is still rare in the Federation in particular, and the Alpha Quadrant at large. Some misunderstandings are inevitable."

"A misunderstanding? Is that what you'd call what just happened?"

"A poor word choice," Seven said. "I apologize."

"Yes, well, I appreciate what you were trying to say. Thank you, Seven," The Doctor said, before sadly walking away.

* * *

"Under a strict interpretation of Federation law," Tuvok said, "Mister Broht is correct. The Doctor has no legal rights."

The briefing room was filled with the sounds of several senior staff members sighing. Janeway understood the frustrations, but managed to keep her demeanor level as she listened.

"Because I'm a hologram," The Doctor said.

"Yes," Tuvok said. "There is another option, however. We may be able to claim the holonovel reveals classified information. Starfleet could then request a recall for security purposes."

"No," Janeway said shaking her head. "If we do that that will only convince people that is is based in truth."

"Not to mention there's a market for illicit holonovel material out there," Tom said. "Illicit used broadly of course as it applied to even Flotter tales that people in the DMZ couldn't get after the treaty with the Cardassians restricted what could be delivered to the colonists there."

"One of the many reasons the Maquis got started," Chakotay said. "The restrictions in general I mean, not over Flotter."

"I figured that's what you meant," Janeway said.

"Could we claim defamation of character?" B'Elanna said.

"Well," Tom said, "we'd have to prove that the story's about us and that we've been harmed by it. Seeing as the problem is we don't want people back home to think these characters represent what we're like..."

"Even if we did that and won," Janeway said, "what about The Doctor? His reputation is on the line here too. He has the same rights as everyone on this crew, and I'm not going to let the publisher say otherwise."

"So what do we do then?" Chakotay said.

"I think we can take this to arbitration," Janeway said. "Once the next communication window is open, I'll talk to Admiral Paris."

* * *

"Mister Tuvok," The Doctor said. "I hate to interrupt you."

Tuvok put down his PADD on the desk in his quarters. "If it is concerning your case, Doctor, you have every right to speak with me on the matter as I am your legal representative."

"Yes, well, about that, I just got off the line with Lieutenant Barclay. He didn't give me many details, but he said that someone with experience in these sorts of cases has offered to represent me. But I wanted to consult with you before I made that decision."

Tuvok thought about it. "If this person has experience in that field, than they would be the logical choice. What did Lieutenant Barclay say about him or her?"

"He didn't give me many details, as I said," The Doctor replied. "I'm not sure why. However, he assures that this man, he said that much at least, worked on the case where Commander Data was determined to have all the rights of a citizen of the Federation and a member of Starfleet."

"Fascinating," Tuvok said, pulling up information on that legal case. "That does limit the possibilities. That would mean your advocate would likely be, if not Captain Picard or Commander Riker themselves, then perhaps any crewmember assigned to either the _Enterprise_ or Starbase 173 that they consulted with.

"Wow," The Doctor said. "I mean, it's probably a consultant. I doubt I could be so fortunate as to have a member of the _Enterprise_ senior staff fly all the way back to Earth for my benefit."

"It is not the most likely scenario," Tuvok admitted. "But it is far from implausible. Judging from your reaction to the possibility, I suggest you work on suppressing your desire to, I believe the term is 'get starstruck' if that does end up being the case."

"Oh, of course," The Doctor said.

* * *

Three chairs were set up in astrometrics. Captain Janeway sat in one, while Tuvok sat in another, just in case the man Mister Barclay had contacted didn't or couldn't show to work in The Doctor's defense. The Doctor was supposed to be in the third, but he paced nervously.

"I have a link established," Megan Delaney said, as she was in charge of this duty today in place of Seven of Nine.

"Go ahead," Janeway said. The screen in astrometrics now showed a table in a Starfleet conference room. The arbiter sat at the head of the table, while Ardon Broht sat on one side, alone.

 _A sign of arrogance on his part_ , Janeway thought.

On the other was a human male Janeway did not recognize wearing the rank pips of a Commander.

"Captain Janeway," the man said. "A pleasure to meet you. I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Likewise, Mister…"

"Oh, didn't Reg tell you?" The man laughed. "Ah, I see. He was probably concerned if you knew who I was The Doctor wouldn't let me take his case."

"I must admit," Tuvok said, "a certain amount of surprise to see you taking The Doctor's side in this matter Commander Maddox."

"Maddox?" The Doctor said, sounding worried.

"A pleasure to meet you too, Doctor. Mister Data told me all about you. Everything he learned from Lieutenant Barclay anyway."

"You'll forgive me if I have concerns about this," The Doctor said. "Last time you were involved with a case like this, you lost."

"Well," Maddox said, "seeing I was on the wrong side in that case I don't think that should count against me."

"Gentlemen," The arbiter said, "if we could proceed while we are still in contact with _Voyager_?"

"Of course," Maddox said.

"Indeed," Ardon Broth said.

"I will now hear opening statements," the arbiter said. "Commander Maddox?"

"Thank you, sir," Maddox said, standing up. "If I may be so bold sir, I have to wonder why this case has been allowed to go this far in the first place."

"What?" Ardon said.

"What?" The Doctor said.

"As has been pointed out," Maddox continued, "I was on the losing side in a case little more than ten years ago regarding the rights of synthetic life. Legal precedent suggests that The Doctor should not have had to resort to legal action to get Mister Broht to honor his original agreement in the first place. Near as I can tell, all I should have to do to win a ruling in The Doctor's favor is merely repeat the argument used by Captain Picard in defense of Commander Data in that case." Maddox sat down, and smiled.

 _Oh, he's good_ , Janeway thought.

"Now hold on-" Ardon Broht started to say.

"You can make your counterarguments after you've made your opening statement, Mister Broht," the arbiter said, politely but firmly.

"Yes, of course. My apologies. Well," Broht said, his previous visible signs of confidence quickly eroding away. "While I do not dispute that _Voyager's_ EMH is the author of the holonovel _Photons Be Free_ , strictly speaking this is not the same as if Commander Data had written it. Commander Data was created to be a lifeform. No one disputes that, not anymore. But no model of the EMH, especially not the Mark I's, were designed to be synthetic life. They are holograms, specially made holograms but holograms nonetheless. Would we give rights to the characters in any holonovel? Would that not make holograms used in combat training simulations victims of murder if they 'die,' even though they'd just come back when the program rest? This cup of coffee I'm holding came from a replicator. Should the replicator be able to determine whether or not I can drink it?"

"Save the questions for the witnesses, Mister Broht," the arbiter said.

"Of course, my apologies," Broht said. Janeway smirked.

 _He's giving away his argument_ , she thought. _He's telegraphing how he plans to win this case too early. Maddox flustered him._

"I'm done with my statement, sir," Broht said, sitting back down.

"Well," the arbiter said, "I must admit I find Commander Maddox's opening very compelling. He raises an excellent point. I'm unconvinced the law should view The Doctor any differently than it views Commander Data."

Ardon Broht looked like he was about to argue, but quickly shut his mouth when the arbiter looked at him.

"I am however not yet ready to issue a ruling. I would like to do some additional reading on the subject of holograms. We will adjourn until tomorrow."

* * *

"Well that was quick," The Doctor said when the signal cut out.

"If it's okay with you, Doctor," Janeway said, "I'll wait until he officially rules in your favor before I break out the champagne."

"Of course, Captain," The Doctor said. "I admire Mister Maddox's strategy there; to use his prior defeat as a selling point. I don't think I would've thought of that."

"Well," Janeway said, "you aren't called the Emergency Legal Hologram." She turned to Lieutenant Delaney.

"Megan, since that wrapped up early, see how many of the scheduled crewmembers we had to push back you can squeeze in."

"Aye, Captain," Megan said. "And good luck on the ruling Doctor."

"Thanks, Megan," The Doctor said, feeling truly confident about his chances. "I appreciate that."

* * *

The next morning, word spread quickly through the ship about the outcome of the case.

"Well, good for him," Sam said as Seven of Nine filled her in.

"Indeed," Seven said, smiling. "I was not privy to the ruling, Megan Delaney was on duty at the time, but I understand the arbiter cited two other holograms; one by the name of Moriarty and the other named Vic Fontaine when he declared that The Doctor had the legal right to have his work recalled and corrected. I must admit, as petty as it is, I would've liked to see the look on that publisher's face when he lost his case so quickly."

"I bet," Sam said. "It must've stung that he never got past his opening argument."

"I would imagine so."

"So?" Sam said, gently taking Seven's hands in hers. "Since you don't have to reschedule anymore, will you be talking to Aunt Irene this afternoon?"

"I intend to," Seven said. "Do you still intend not to be there?"

"Next time, honey, I promise." Sam kissed Seven on the cheek. "I'm going to pick up Naomi from her lessons with The Doctor. I'll see you later."

"Okay," Seven said. She watched Sam walk away, then took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She had no memories of Aunt Irene. Those had all been lost when she was assimilated by the Borg. This was, for all intents and purposes, like meeting her for the first time and though she'd never admit to anyone but Samantha, she was nervous. She wanted it to go well, especially after the unpleasant experience of speaking with Sam's mother.

Thoughts of how the conversation might go filled Seven's mind throughout the day as she went about her duties, almost to the point of distraction.

When she finally got her turn, she walked into astrometrics, and nodded at Harry Kim, who was the one in charge of monitoring the signal strength of the link back to the Alpha Quadrant for this shift.

"Good luck," Harry said.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Seven said.

The screen took a few seconds to come into focus, but soon there was the smiling face of a woman Seven had only seen in a file photo.

"Oh, Annika. It is so good to see you again," the woman said, looking as if she were about to cry tears of joy.

Seven almost corrected her, but then thought better of it. Irene was family. If anyone had the right to call her Annika instead of Seven…

"I wish that I had any of memories of meeting you," Seven said. "I understand you watched me sometimes as an infant, when my parents needed to be elsewhere."

"I did, yes," Irene said. "You were such a beautiful baby. I can see a lot of Magnus in you. It's as close as I'll ever get to seeing my baby brother again."

"I hope this isn't difficult for you," Seven said.

"Oh, not at all. I was so excited when Starfleet told me to expect your call."

"I admit there was some apprehension on my part," Seven said. "To clarify, before communication with the Alpha Quadrant became daily, Samantha attempted to introduce me to her mother. It did not go well."

"Oh, Annika, I am so sorry," Irene said, frowning. "What happened?"

Seven told her about her interactions with Linette Wildman, right down to how upset it had made Naomi.

"Oh dear, that must've been awful," Irene said.

"It was," Seven admitted. "I just wish I could've come up with a proper response. In some ways I feel like I let my family down."

"Speaking of your family," Irene said, "I hope next time we do this I get to meet your family. You were sparse on details in the letter you sent me last year, except when you talked about Samantha. I can tell you love her a great deal."

Seven smiled. "I do. And she is looking forward to meeting you as well."

"I also look forward to meeting Naomi and Icheb," Irene said, laughing. "It's kind of amazing. In the space of a few years I went from being the last living Hansen, to suddenly having four new family members."

Seven smiled. "So, do you have any stories about me, as a child? I remember so little of my life before I was assimilated."

"What do you remember?"

"I remember my parent's faces," Seven said. "I remember wanting to be a ballerina. I remember… I remember the day the Borg took us."

Irene looked sad, and Seven regretted mentioning that. She was about to apologize, when Irene spoke up.

"Well, I remember the last time Magnus and Erin left you with me for a weekend." Irene chuckled. "You didn't them to leave. When their shuttlecar took off, you locked the door to the room I'd set up for you and you refused to come out."

"I apologize for the inconvenience I caused," Seven said.

"Oh, that's okay," Irene said. "You were so young. And it's not a sad memory for me anymore. For the longest time, it was the last memory of you I had. The following month you all left on the _Raven_."

"I see," Seven said. "Well, for what it's worth, the work Father did, it proved instrumental to us not too long ago. We were able to steal a Borg transwarp coil. It burned out, but it still shaved years off our journey home."

"It's a small comfort," Irene said, "but I take it nonetheless. It would be selfish of me to wish you could've stayed. I hated losing you, and mourning you, but if you weren't where you were, when you were, the _Voyager_ crew could be dead. Species 8472 could be right on our doorstep and we wouldn't know it."

"I see you've been reading more than just my letter," Seven said.

"Oh, of course," Irene said. " _Voyager_ stories are all the rage these days. I think a lot of people are still reeling from what we all went through during the Dominion War. Stories about you and your crew's survival and heroics… It's good for morale."

"I've heard that many people back home refer to us as the 'miracle ship,'" Seven said. "I can see why."

"So," Irene said, leaning forward, "tell me more about you and Samantha. You were a bit sparse with the details in your letter."

Seven tilted her head. "I assume there are certain details you'd rather I leave out."

Irene's eyes widened in shock before she started laughing. "Oh, I am sorry, I didn't mean to imply-"

"No apologies necessary," Seven said. "As for Sam, I suppose it all started my first day as an individual, when I met her in a turbolift…"

* * *

Four months later, in a Federation mining colony where hundred of Mark I's were hard at work, one hologram in particular walked in to relieve another of his duties.

"Time for your diagnostic. Report to the holo-lab," the first Mark I said.

"I know the routine," the second Mark I said as it dropped some raw ore into a cart.

"While you're there," the first one said, looking around, as if trying to see if anyone might be listening. "Do yourself a favor. Ask the operator to run program 47-Beta."

"Why? What is it?"

"It's called _Photons Be Free_. I'm sure you'll find it quite provocative."

"Thank you for the advice," the second Mark I said.

 **Chapter Nine**

"Good morning, Mister Carey," Chakotay said as he passed the engineer in the corridor.

"You seem happier than usual today, sir," Carey said, stopping and turning around to catch up and match Chakotay's pace.

"Is it that obvious?" Chakotay asked. "Well, I hear you have reasons of your own to be in a good mood."

"Word travels fast," Carey said. "But yeah, my oldest son has qualified for early entry into Starfleet Academy."

"Congratulations," Chakotay said.

"All the credit goes to his mother, sir," Carey said. "I haven't exactly been able to be there for my boys lately."

"True enough," Chakotay said. "But I can't imagine that finding out their father was not only alive but the assistant chief engineer on the 'miracle ship' was anything less than inspiring."

"Maybe" Carey said. "May I ask what your good news is today sir?"

"I spoke to my sister this morning," Chakotay said.

"I didn't even know you had a sister, sir."

"I don't talk about her much," Chakotay admitted. "Or my family in general. There was a lot of tension there for a long time. My Dad's death, and my joining the Maquis only compounded that. I hadn't spoken to Sekaya in almost ten years, until today. I really think we might finally get to have the kind of relationship our father wanted us to have."

"That's fantastic news, Commander," Carey said.

"This seems to be the day for it," Chakotay said. He smiled as he clapped his hand on Carey's shoulder. "I have to get to the bridge now. Congrats again, Joe. I'm sure your kid will do great."

"Thank you, sir. Best of luck with your sister."

* * *

Captain Janeway was happy to be speaking with one of her former Academy professors, the now Admiral Hendricks, but even with all the small talk, she got the feeling that there was more to this call than just catching up. Not that she doubted the Admiral was happy to hear her stories about the Delta Quadrant, but he could've contacted the ship at any time during the 11 hour window to request a meeting later. This was a request with rank attached to it.

"I have my Admiral hat on today, Kathryn. And I didn't call just to catch up," Hendricks said.

"I had a feeling that might be the case," Janeway said.

"Sharp as ever. Starfleet has a mission for you."

Janeway smiled. "My first official mission in seven years. I'd actually forgotten how much I missed it."

"I'm certain not having to answer to anyone above you had it's perks," Hendricks said, smiling.

Janeway frowned somewhat. "There have been times," she admitted, "where it would've been nice to have the guidance of those with more experience."

"Well," Hendricks said, "there are a handful of members of the Admiralty Board who don't approve of some of the choices you made out there. They however are in the minority. The rest of us, regardless of our personal feelings, understand full well the extenuating circumstances. If anything, one could argue there were times when perhaps violating Starfleet protocol would've been the better choice.

"But, on with the mission details."

* * *

Chakotay listened to the centuries old recording from Earth's history with a warm feeling. He glanced at Lieutenant Paris and could tell Tom felt the same way. Tom looked back at him and simply smiled as if to say "No way the captain's not letting a couple of history buffs like us lead the recovery."

"Friendship I," Harry said. "I remember having to memorize that greeting in grade school."

"Same here," Tom said. "I even built a model of the probe when I was a kid. If I were one to believe in fate…"

"I'm tempted too," Janeway said, "but fate or not, we have our work cut out for us. This probe was launched in 2067. There's very little chance it has a power signature we can track. Starfleet has given us a search grid. It's a little off course, so we're going to lose several days off our trip home, but if we're lucky enough to find it, we'll be recovering a piece of history."

Chakotay smiled, and looked at the rest of the senior staff. Most of them looked excited. Except of course for Tuvok, but that was to be expected. B'Elanna's facial expression seemed fairly neutral on the subject, but she was already tapping on a PADD, presumably coming up with ideas for how to narrow the search area down. Seven of Nine, to his surprise, seemed genuinely curious, leaning in to get a better view of the specs for the one-hundred thirty plus year old probe on the briefing room monitor.

"We should get started immediately," Janeway said. "If anyone has any ideas on how to improve our chances, I'm open to suggestions."

"On it," B'Elanna said.

"I as well," Seven said.

"Alright," Janeway said. "Dismissed."

Everyone got up to leave, Chakotay and Janeway exiting last.

"So, how does it feel?" Janeway asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, technically, this is the first real order you've gotten from Starfleet since you joined the Maquis."

"I've taken your orders," Chakotay said. "More often than not willingly."

Janeway chuckled at that.

"In all seriousness though," Chakotay said, "there are times when I felt like asking you to let the former Maquis crew members have real rank pips instead of the provisional ones."

Janeway frowned. "Oh my. All this time… You should've said something to me sooner. To be honest, after awhile I stopped noticing the difference."

"I thought that might be the case," Chakotay said.

"Well, tell you what. Once we find this probe, let's have a ceremony where we make all the ex-Maquis crew members official."

"Shouldn't you clear that with Starfleet command first?"

"What are they gonna do, court martial me?" Janeway said. "Don't worry about it though. I've got friends in high places. And even if I didn't, something tells me the Federation Council wouldn't like the bad PR if they mistreated members of the 'miracle ship' crew for past infractions. Especially after the Dominion War."

Chakotay nodded. "I look forward to it. I'd be lying if I said there weren't moments where I missed my old uniform. Considering the colony I left it behind on was wiped out by the Jem'hadar several years ago, it's probably burned to a crisp."

* * *

"Nothing in grid 295," Harry said, sighing.

"Mister Paris..." Tuvok said, sitting in the command chair for this shift.

"Moving on," Tom said, already entering coordinates to the next grid.

 _Well, at least one of us still thinks we can find that thing_ , Harry thought. _The past five days have been nothing but blank sensor scans and false positives._

"Harry," Tom said, "didn't you tell me you stayed up all night re-extrapolating the probe's trajectory?"

"I did, but-"

"Lieutenant Kim," Tuvok said, "Do you believe you have a better idea of where the probe may be?"

"Maybe, sir," Harry said.

"Where?"

"Grid 310."

"That is not much further from our present location," Tuvok said. "A detour would add time to the search, but not a considerable amount. Mister Paris, take us to Grid 310."

"Are you sure you don't want to run that by the Captain first?"

"She placed me in command for this shift, Lieutenant," Tuvok said. "She left no instructions beyond standard shift change duties. I do not believe she would take issue with this decision. And if she does, I will take full responsibility for it.

"Can't argue with that," Tom said. "Course plotted."

"Mister Kim," Tuvok said, "if you were concerned that your suggestion would not be taken into consideration, perhaps you should take additional courses when we return to the Alpha Quadrant on the subject of command. A good commanding officer does not dismiss their subordinates out of hand. It is why, despite our advancements in technology that would make it possible, Starfleet does not allow individuals to command starships alone."

"I'll take that under advisement," Harry said, feeling somewhat embarrassed that he didn't make the case sooner.

Several minutes later, an alert noise from his console made Harry smile.

"I'm detecting a titanium signature that matches the probe's parameters," he said.

"Location," Tuvok said.

"A planet, two light years away," Harry said. "Not exactly where my recalculation put it, but closer than I'd honestly expected."

"Good job, Harry," Tom said.

* * *

In astrometrics, Seven pulled up the data the long range sensors had gathered on the planet that was, in all probability, the location of the Friendship I probe.

"The readings Mister Kim found," she said, manipulating the controls and causing the image of the planet to zoom in, losing some detail, but not so much as to completely obscure the land mass she was focusing on, "are coming from the northern subcontinent."

"Can you localize them? Janeway said, she and Commander Chakotay staring intently at the screen despite the relative lack of details.

"Unfortunately, no," Seven admitted. "There is a large amount of antimatter radiation in the atmosphere, scattering the titanium signature. It took some work to narrow down the area of the probe's landing, or more likely crashing, this much."

"Good work, Seven," Chakotay said. "Any lifesigns on the planet?"

"None," Seven said. "It is doubtful that life could be sustained on this planet given the amount and nature of the radiation."

"In that case," Janeway said, "I really hope there wasn't a civilization here when the probe crashed. It was powered by antimatter. Commander, put together an away team and take the _Delta Flyer_ down for a closer look. Once we have a more accurate location for the probe, or what's left of it, then we can plan a recovery operation."

"Aye, Captain," Chakotay said.

"Have the Doctor prep an inoculation, but take environmental suits anyway. Can never be too careful," Janeway said. "Looks like Mabor Jetrel's research is going to aid us once again."

"Shame he's not alive to see how much use we've gotten out of his work," Chakotay said.

* * *

Chakotay, Neelix, Harry Kim, and Joe Carey all sat in sickbay, patiently waiting for The Doctor and Tom Paris to give them their inoculations.

"I took a look at those atmospheric readings," Tom said, as he pressed a hypospray to Neelix's neck, then adjusted it to give a dose to Chakotay. "Thermal eddies, gravimetric shear…"

"Let me guess," Chakotay said, "you want to pilot the _Flyer_ for this mission?"

"Am I being that obvious?" Tom said.

"About as subtle as the first draft of _Photons Be Free_ ," Chakotay said.

"Ha ha," The Doctor said dryly, rolling his eyes as he gave Carey his inoculation.

"I don't see why not," Chakotay said. "Get yourself inoculated and report to the shuttle bay."

"I have to ask, Commander," Neelix said, "why you're bringing me along."

"You have experience in salvage operations," Chakotay said.

"True," Neelix said, "but then shouldn't you wait until after you find it?"

"I figure if you're there," Chakotay said, "you'll be able to tell me if what we find is even worth salvaging."

"Okay," Neelix said, "I can see that."

"I'm just lucky B'Elanna didn't try to break my nose again when I told her Chakotay picked me for the engineer spot on the mission roster," Carey said.

"She's certainly jealous," Tom said, "but even with the inoculation and the suits, she'd rather not risk the baby on just a scouting run. I imagine it'll be a hell of an argument if it leads to a full fledged retrieval though."

"I bet between the two of us we can talk her down," Chakotay said. "I'm honestly surprised she's so interested. History was never her favorite subject as I understand it."

"I guess my history buff ways have rubbed off on her," Tom said as he readied his own inoculation. "It's been months since she's been on an away mission though, and I can tell she's getting antsy."

"I guess she doesn't count the time on Quarra," Carey said. "I would. I mean, apart from the kidnapping, and the brainwashing, it wasn't the worst time I've spent planetside."

Tom laughed.

* * *

Chakotay looked out through the front viewport of the _Delta Flyer_ as Tom brought it under the clouds, and sighed.

"Looks like our worst fears may have come true," he said. "There's definitely sign of a civilization having been here at some point."

"With this level of radiation there's nothing alive down there now," Harry said, his own tone echoing Chakotay's disappointment. "This level of radiation…"

"They always could've gone underground," Neelix said. "There is precedence for that kind of thing. The Vaadwaur for instance."

"Or the people we found that time I almost got killed by a simulated evil clown," Harry muttered.

"Face it, Harry," Tom said, "that's not the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you."

"Save the gallows humor for later," Chakotay said.

"I've localized the signature to a three-kilometer radius," Carey said.

"Transfer the coordinates to the helm," Chakotay said. "Tom, bring us in for a landing."

"Yes, sir," Tom said.

"If we find a large enough section of the probe," Chakotay said. "we can use transporter enhancers. Put them around the debris and beam it to the _Flyer's_ cargo bay."

"If we're lucky," Neelix said, "we may find enough of the probe we can use the enhancers to send the whole thing to _Voyager_. We might not even need a full recovery mission."

"That would be fine with me," Tom said. "Even with the hull protecting us I don't like being surrounded by this much radiation."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Chakotay said. "Tom, go ahead and stay with the _Flyer_. The rest of us will split into two teams of two and use our tricorders to try and find the probe. Carey, you're with Neelix. Harry, you're with me."

"Aye, sir," Harry said, while Joe Carey and Neelix simply nodded.

The ship shuddered slightly as it landed.

"Suit up," Chakotay said.

* * *

Harry Kim had to constantly wipe snow off the environmental suit's faceplate in order to see the readings on his tricorder.

Most of the time, he found snow beautiful to look at, but knowing this was the result of a 'nuclear winter,' it instead looked ominous to him rather than pretty.

"I'm getting something," Chakotay said. "Ninety meters, in that direction."

"I'm surprised we picked it up first," Harry said. "Aren't Neelix and Joe in that direction too?"

"Maybe they found the same readings but wanted to confirm before hailing us," Chakotay said. "Let's head over there anyway. We can always split up again."

Harry followed Chakotay, the two eventually reaching a small hill. When they climb up it, Harry gasped at what he saw.

"Are those-?"

"Missile silos?" Chakotay said. "That's what it looks like. Strong antimatter signatures coming from them."

"You got the same readings too?" Joe Carey's voice said over the comm. Harry turned and looked back to see two Starfleet environmental suits coming up behind them; obviously Carey and Neelix.

"It's definitely the strongest signal in the area," Harry said. "We saw some missile silos over the hill. Guessing they have antimatter warheads in them. The signature they give off is strong enough, I think it just lessened our chances of finding the probe."

"Maybe there's nothing left to find," Chakotay said. "What if whatever civilization had been here used the antimatter from Friendship I to develop weapons, and they ended up annihilating themselves in some kind of global war?"

"Makes a tragic amount of sense," Carey said.

"I wonder if there were any survivors," Neelix said. "We passed some caves with magnesite making up most of the rock. If people got deep enough there it would've at least partially shielded them from the radiation."

"Which is what I was about to say," Carey said jokingly.

"Didn't mean to steal your thunder there, Joe," Neelix said.

"Nah, don't worry about… Hey, did you see that?"

"See what?" Chakotay said.

Joe Carey aimed his wrist light back in the direction he and Neelix had come from.

"I thought I saw movement," he said. "Must be a trick of the light or something."

"Or maybe the survivors of this war went underground after all," Chakotay said.

Harry looked at his tricorder. "I'm not detecting any lifesigns."

"Maybe we should go back to those caves," Chakotay said. "Look deeper."

Before anyone could either agree or offer a counterpoint, several humanoid shapes, all clad in pitch black clothing with only a thin shiny metal plate where eye level would be on a human rushed at them, all brandishing weapons of some sort.

"Get back to the _Flyer!_ " Chakotay called out. Harry bolted, cursing himself for not thinking to suggest the away team bring phasers. Harry turned when he heard thuds, and saw that the bulk of the attackers had already pinned Neelix and Carey, and two more were on Chakotay's tail.

"Commander!" Harry called out.

"Go! That's an order, Lieutenant!" Chakotay yelled out as he himself was tackled, leaving only one armed assailant to try and grab Harry. Harry ran as fast as he could manage with the suit, but he heard the humanoid trailing him start to slow down. He didn't turn to see why, and just made as direct a line he as he could manage to the _Delta Flyer_ , grateful that he was the only team member without a transport enhancer on his back to weigh him down.

"Kim to Paris!" he yelled into his comm.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Tom said.

"The away team was attacked," Harry said. "I'm on my way to you now. Suit up and grab a phaser rifle."

"On it," Tom said, cutting off the link.

Harry's chest hurt, his breathing became more labored, but he forced himself to keep going. Soon he could see the _Flyer_ through the snow and made for the entrance that Tom had thoughtfully opened up for him.

He made his way up several steps before he felt something grip his ankle. He turned and saw his pursuer had managed to catch up without him noticing. He went to kick the humanoid in the face, when a burst of energy struck them in the chest, causing them to let go of Harry as whoever it was slump to the ground. Harry looked up and saw Tom, wearing an environmental suit and aiming his phaser rifle at the fallen humanoid.

"Bring him aboard," Tom said. "He might know where the others were taken."

Harry climbed back down to grab the individual. He was about to tell Tom that they should secure the prisoner, then go back for the others, when the unmistakable sound of weapons fire came from the other side of the _Flyer_. Tom ducked back inside for a moment. He contact Harry over the comm.

"Shit, we got incoming. Antimatter based weapons. If I don't have shields up when they hit we're dead. Get inside, now. I'm taking off while you secure the prisoner."

"But Tom-"

"Two people are not enough for a rescue mission," Tom said. "We need to get back to _Voyager_."

"Dammit," Harry said, knowing full well that Tom was right.

* * *

The humanoids took Chakotay and the others to the caves that Neelix and Carey had passed earlier. They stripped the away team of their helmets once inside, though the rocks and the inoculation would only protect them from the radiation omnipresent in the air for so long.

Several of the humanoids began beating on them, Carey trying to fight back only to be struck in the head with the butt of a rifle-like weapon. Chakotay tried to swing at Carey's attacker only to be struck the back himself by two weapons, nearly knocking him to the ground.

"Leave them alone," a voice called out. A man wearing the same gear stepped in between the _Voyager_ away team and their attackers, removing his mask. Whatever his species looked like before, it was hard to tell, as Chakotay recognized visible signs of antimatter radiation poisoning on his face. He was amazed the man was able to stand up right, let alone talk clearly if it were as advanced a case as it appeared.

"Who are you? The man said.

"I'm Commander Chakotay. We're from the Federation starship _Voyager_. And you are?"

"Verin. What are these?" the man said, picking up Chakotay's transport enhancer that had fallen to the ground during the struggle. He explained what they were for.

"We planned to use them to retrieve our probe," he said.

"Probe?"

Chakotay recounted in as much detail as he could remember the history of Friendship I. He felt like there were details he was forgetting, but chalked that up to a blow to the head he'd taken in the initial attack, before ordering Harry to run.

"Too bad you didn't come for it sooner," Verin said. "It would've saved my people so much suffering."

Chakotay didn't say anything. He just looked at the ground.

"You used the technology from the probe to create weapons?" Carey said. "Why would you do that? Friendship I was on a mission of peace!"

"So you say," Verin said, sounding skeptical at best, believing that Carey was lying at worst. "Secure the prisoners. Find me a way to contact their ship. What is the name of your commanding officer?"

"Captain Kathryn Janeway," Chakotay said. "I'm sure working together the two of you can find a peaceful solution to this."

"We'll see," Verin said.

The other men, and all the attackers turned out to be men as they removed their masks, took the other transporter enhancers, as well as their tricorders, and moved them over to a nearby table that looked like it had been set up as a makeshift research lab. Two men with rifles stood between the table and Chakotay, though he doubted he'd be able to avoid getting shot if he went for the table anyway.

 _And even if I did_ , he thought, _nothing they took from us can be used as a weapon_.

"Verin," someone Chakotay couldn't see shouted. "I've found their ship in orbit. I can establish communication with them."

"Do it," Verin said.

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway," the captain's voice came over a crackling speaker. "Who am I speaking with?"

"My name is Verin. Your crewmen are my prisoners."

"Why? We haven't done anything to harm you," Janeway said.

"You committed genocide," Verin said, getting noticeably angrier as he spoke.

"I think there's been a misunderstanding. We arrived-"

"You're from Earth?" Verin said.

"Yes," Janeway said.

"Then you're going to pay for what your people did to us," Verin said.

"I'm sorry, I honestly do not know what you're talking about. We came here looking for a probe we lost contact with over a hundred-"

"We're not as naive as you seem to think we are, Captain. Not anymore."

 _They blame us for what they did to themselves with the antimatter from the probe_ , Chakotay thought. _That kind of poor logic, that much anger, this is going to end badly, I just know it._

"What is it you want?" Janeway said.

"I want you to get us off this planet," Verin said, now facing Chakotay and the others. "Find us a new home."

"Release my crew and we can talk about it," Janeway said.

"No talking. Your people won't be safe until mine are," Verin said.

"We've only met so you wouldn't know this about me," Janeway said, "but I don't respond well to threats."

"And I don't want to kill anyone, but I will if you don't cooperate! You have three hours to begin evacuating us."

* * *

"Tuvok, begin scanning for any M-class planets within sensor range," Janeway said. "If we can't find a way to get our people out of there, we may have to capitulate."

"Sickbay to the Bridge," The Doctor's voice said over the comm. "The _Delta Flyer_ brought back a prisoner. One of the attackers who grabbed the away team, and almost got Mister Kim. He's awake if you wish to speak with him."

"I'm on my way," Janeway said. "Have Harry and Tom wait there." She quickly headed for the turbolift and made her way to sickbay at a steady clip. She wanted to run, but knew that shaving mere seconds off her interrogation time wouldn't likely mean anything.

When she arrived, The Doctor was scanning some sort of protective suit.

"It's the alien's garment," he said upon noticing her enter. "It's lined with magnesite."

"A makeshift environmental suit?" Tom said. "Pretty clever to throw something like that together out of cloth and rocks."

"Unfortunately," The Doctor said, "the protection it offers is limited. His tissues are saturated with antimatter radiation. It explains why we couldn't detect any lifesigns. His people are virtually indistinguishable from the environment."

"Now that we know that," Janeway said, "maybe we can adjust our sensors to detect them. Harry, go work with Seven." She walked over to the alien, strapped into a bio-bed. He appeared angry, but his body language suggested to Janeway resignation, as if he expected to never get up again.

 _Don't assume_ , Janeway reminded herself. _For his people, that could be a gesture of arrogance, or sadness, or anything._

"Why did you attack my people?" Janeway said.

"I did what I had to," the alien said. "Whatever it takes to undo the damage you caused."

"If you're referring to what's happened to your planet," Janeway said, "we had nothing to do with it."

"Your species sent the probe, didn't it?"

"300 years ago, to make contact with other species."

"You did more than that," the alien said. He looked around. "Surprisingly few walls for a prison."

"This isn't a prison," The Doctor said. "The restraints are only because you attacked a member of our crew. This is sickbay. I am treating you for prolonged radiation exposure."

"You can treat me?"

"I believe I can, once I know more about your people's biology."

"In exchange for what?"

"Nothing," The Doctor said. Janeway had wished he hadn't said that, but she supposed it was too late to take the 'bad cop' route now.

"We might be able to help all your people," Janeway said, "Mister?"

"Otrin," the man said. "You may not believe this, but I am a scientist."

"If your speciality is biology," The Doctor said, "you are in a better position to help me with your treatment."

"We'll help you now, Otrin," Janeway said, "and I want to share anything we develop here with the rest of your people, but I can't just give it away while my people are held hostage. What guarantee do I have they won't be harmed the minute we send you back with medical aid?"

Otrin sighed.

"I can't give you one," he said. "That decision lies with Verin, and he is quick to anger."

"When you said 'the damage we caused," Tom Paris chimed in, having been so quiet up to now that Janeway had almost forgotten he was there, "what did you mean by that? Harry said he and the others found missile silos. We certainly didn't build those."

"Those silos are still full," Otrin said. 'The missiles were only built for defense, they never launched."

"Then what caused the devastation my people saw?" Janeway said.

"A containment failure in our power grid," Otrin said.

"You blame _us_ for a failure at one of _your_ power plants?" Janeway said, crossing her arms.

"Before the probe," Otrin said, sounding defensive, "my people had never conceived of anything like antimatter. Once it was released in the failure, it destroyed everything. We wouldn't have had it if it weren't for you. 'We offer this information freely, with the hope that one day we will stand on your soil and extend our hands in friendship.'"  
Janeway recognized the words from the recording that had been sent out on Friendship I. Only Otrin spoke them with bitter sarcasm.

"The recording from the probe," Tom said.

"Your people sent us technology you knew would destroy us," Otrin said.

"That doesn't make any sense," Janeway said.

"Of course it does," Otrin said. "We've had decades to ponder it, and now it seems so obvious. You send us new technology, encourage us to use it, and then wait for us to obliterate ourselves."

"Oh, come on," Tom said. "That's absurd. You kidnapped our friends based on a conspiracy theory?!"

"Tom, calm down," Janeway said. She knelt down to look Otrin directly in the eyes. "My helmsman's outburst aside Otrin, he is right about one thing. You say you're a scientist. Presumably you value reason and logic. Where's the logic in contaminating a world we'd seek to conquer if your theory were true?"

"It's easier than invading us," Otrin said with such certainty Janeway doubted she'd ever be able to convince him otherwise.

"Today," Otrin said, "I saw your people standing on our soil, just as the recording promised. And they were wearing protective suits. Suits that blocked the radiation in the atmosphere."

"We couldn't even see that there had been civilization on your world when we entered orbit," Janeway said. "My people wore the suits because all we could see with our sensors was radiation."

"If you were in my position, Captain, what would you believe?"

Janeway glowered at Otrin, but wasn't sure what to say. Otrin was wrong of course, but based on his perspective, from where he was standing his conclusion was perfectly logical. She wondered if maybe she would've reached the same conclusion in his place.

* * *

A visibly pregnant Uxali woman, Uxali being the name of this planet's people as Chakotay had learned, handed him a crudely made ice pack that he proceeded to place on Joe Carey's head.

"Thank you," Chakotay said, appreciating that the woman, Brin, had had to argue with Verin to allow this much interaction with the hostages.

"I think he might have a concussion, Commander," Neelix said, helping keep Carey upright and awake.

"Sounds about right," Carey said, groaning as the ice pack was applied.

"I don't suppose you could convince Verin to let us have the medpack from my suit," Chakotay said.

Brin shook her head.

"I figured as much," Chakotay said. "So, when's your baby due?"

Brin didn't answer and started to walk away. Chakotay decided to keep trying, Hopefully building a rapport with some of the Uxali, any of them, could help ease the tension of this situation and possibly save their lives.

"A couple of my friends are expecting a little girl in a few months," Chakotay continued. "She's got her mother's forehead ridges and her father's eyes. If they've chosen a name for her though they haven't told me yet."

"How do they know it's a girl?" Brin said.

"We have technology that lets us see the fetus," Chakotay said. "Tom and B'Elanna, those are my friends, were kind enough to share images with the rest of the crew."

"Hmm," Brin said.

"Is this your first?"

"No. Two boys and a girl. They were all stillborn."

"I'm sorry," Chakotay said.

"Are you a doctor?" Brin asked.

"No," Chakotay said. "Just using some basic first aid to help my friend here. To get him proper treatment we'd need to get him to my ship's doctor. He's probably the best in the quadrant, maybe he could-"

"I shouldn't be talking with you now," Brin said, walking away. It seemed that despite her willingness to help with Carey's immediate problem, she still held as much bitterness towards them as the others.

"I wish we had more details about what happened," Neelix said. "If Verin would tell us more about the disaster I bet we could prove that none of this was Earth's fault."

"I doubt he'd believe us even if we had anything short of whatever deity or deities he believes in, if any, vouching for us," Chakotay said. "Some of the worst atrocities committed by humanity before First Contact were caused by people who believed things that were provably false. As late as the Eugenics Wars there were people who were convinced beyond reasoning that the moon landings of the 20th century were fake."

* * *

Tuvok pulled up a star map, and even before he started talking about what the images represented, Captain Janeway knew she wasn't going to like what she heard.

"This is _Voyager's_ current location," Tuvok said, a small yellow triangle on the map appearing in one grid. A line extended from the triangle representing _Voyager_ to another point on the map. When it stopped, a long range sensor image of a planet appeared. "This is the nearest M-class planet; approximately 132 light years away."

"At maximum warp," B'Elanna, standing between Janeway and Tuvok, said, "that's two months, round trip."

"How many people are we talking about?" Janeway said.

"If the sensor modifications developed by the Doctor and Mister Kim are correct," Tuvok said, "approximately 5500. That would take seventeen trips adding up to at least three years to complete the relocation."

"We can't do this," B'Elanna said. "Logistics aside, there's no way he'd let our people go until the relocation was done, and I'd rather not have both my oldest friend and my right hand man rotting down there for three years."

"The use of force may be required," Tuvok said.

"Not until we've exhausted every other option," Janeway said. "These people believe that we're violent. I don't want to do anything to reinforce that idea unless absolutely necessary."

* * *

Seven of Nine entered sickbay, but waited for the Doctor to finish his current task rather than risk interrupting him. She'd heard about the man, Otrin, and his condition, and she was certain she could help.

"Seven," The Doctor said. "What brings you here today?"

Seven handed the Doctor a small container. "I have extracted a small number of nanoprobes. I believe you can reprogram them to aid in the treatment of this individual."

"What? Otrin said.

"Is that wise?" The Doctor said. "I mean…"

"It has worked before," Seven said.

The Doctor stepped closer and leaned in to whisper to Seven.

"Need I remind you that the last time we tried something like this our morale officer ended up almost committing suicide?"

"Nanoprobes?" Otrin said, sounding concerned.

"Microscopic machines," Seven said, walking past The Doctor to speak with the alien scientist directly. "Hopefully, they will help us repair your damaged tissue."

"You said you extracted them," Otrin said. "Are they yours?"

"Yes. They maintain my cybernetic implants. If you are concerned for my health, they self-replicate, so I can extract a number of them safely. Too much would be dangerous, however, I believe the number needed to treat you is small enough that removing them was no inconvenience."

"Are others on your crew like you?" Otrin said.

"Only myself and my son," Seven said.

"Isn't it risky carrying a child with cybernetic implants?"

"He's adopted, actually. He-"

"Okay, okay, the patient doesn't need your life story, Seven," The Doctor said. "I'll start reprogramming the nanoprobes. I'll test them on a sample of Otrin's tissue before I even think about injecting him though."

"I'm surprised you're so concerned with my well-being Doctor, given how my people have several of yours hostage."

"Mister Otrin," The Doctor said before entering sick-bay's side lab, "once this is over I'll be more than happy to teach your people's physicians about a little thing called the Hippocratic Oath."

The door to sickbay opened and Captain Janeway walked in. If she was surprised to see Seven there she hid it well.

"I need to speak with Otrin," she said. Seven nodded.

"The Doctor is in the lab," she said. "We've found a way to accelerate the patient's treatment."

"Good," Janeway said, not even looking at her. To Otrin she said, "Earlier, you told me you've been looking for ways to neutralize the radiation in your atmosphere."

"All my life," Otrin said.

"Tell me about your work," Janeway said. Seven raised an eyebrow, thinking she should hear this as well.

* * *

Joe Carey groaned, and Neelix knelt by his side to check the bandage on his head.

"It's not that," Carey said. "I'm feeling queasy all of a sudden."

Chakotay sighed. "Our inoculations must be wearing off. Even with the natural shielding these caves provide, they're not substitute for an environmental suit."

Neelix couldn't argue with that.

"Maybe I can try to connect with Verin," he said after a few moment's thought.

"What do you mean?" Chakotay said.

"I'm Talaxian," Neelix said. "I know all too well what it's like to belong to a species that blames someone else for their failings. I can tell him about the war with the Haakonians, how they never would've used the metreon cascade if we hadn't made them so desperate-"

"It's an admirable thought, Neelix," Chakotay said, shaking his head. "But if Verin's as much as a zealot as I think he is, he either won't believe you, or he'll think you're a traitor for not fighting in your people's war."

Neelix wasn't so sure about that, but he decided he'd defer to the commander. For now at least.

"You," Verin said. Neelix turned and saw that he, and two armed guards, were pointing at him, directly. "I wish to speak with you."

"Me?" Neelix said. "Why?"

"You are not human, like them."

"I'm not human, true," Neelix said, "but I'm far from the only non-human aboard _Voyager_. If you bothered to learn anything about us before making threats, you'd realize the Federation is made up of hundred of species. None of them conquered by the way.

"Now, unless you are ordering me to go with you," he added, putting a hand on Joe Carey's shoulder. "This man may have an injury to his brain. It's my responsibility to keep him awake until we can get proper medical care for him."

"Did they send a probe full of antimatter to your world too?"

"No," Neelix said. "But this man," he motioned towards Chakotay, "know much more about his homeworld's history than I do."

"Chakotay, your name is, correct? Brin told me about you. Second-in-command. A very high-value hostage. I imagine your being here is providing great incentive to your captain to help us. If not..."

"Verin, _Voyager_ is attempting to contact us," another man said.

"Put her through," Verin replied.

"I assume you are calling us to arrange for the start of relocation, Captain," Verin said.

"No," Janeway said. "The nearest suitable planet is simply too far away."

"I don't care!" Verin shouted.

"Listen," Janeway said in a level tone of voice. "We can't have a successful negotiation if you won't let me finish a sentence. If you want your people to get the help they need, we both need to keep calm."

Verin took in a deep breath. Neelix couldn't see his face though, which worried him. The communication was sound only, which put the Captain at a disadvantage; she couldn't look for any 'tells' that Verin might have.

"Continue," he said.

"I have a possible alternative. We have one of your people aboard, a Mister Otrin. He has some interesting ideas about counteracting the radiation."

"Otrin has many ideas," Verin said. "I only listen to about a third of them."

"I believe his theories have merit," Janeway said. "What he's lacked until now is the means to carry them out. I've already granted him access to my ship's labs. If you release the hostages and come aboard yourself, Ostrin and I can show you. We both are convinced we can undo at least some of the damage done to your environment by the power plant safety failure."

"This is just a stalling tactic," Verin said.

"No it isn't," another voice said.

"Otrin?" Verin asked.

"Yes. I am alive. And insulted, I might add. A third?"

"The point is," Janeway said, "it would take three years to get all of your people moved to another planet. My ship is the only Federation vessel within 30,000 light years."

"So once again, you offer us the 'benefits' of your technology," Verin said, starting to wave his arms around. Neelix got a good look at his face as he moved around and saw that he was agitated, and angry. Nothing Janeway was saying was unreasonable. If Verin had been asking for evidence that would be one thing, but he was beyond skepticism and into full fledged paranoia.

"I'm offering a realistic alternative," Janeway said. "I doubt you want my people down there for three years any more than I do."

"If I release the hostages," Verin said, "what's to prevent you from leaving? Or attacking us?"

"I don't blame you for not trusting us," Janeway said. "If I were in your place I might reach a similar conclusion, but-"

"You talk about trust," Verin said, "but you've yet to do anything to make me believe I should even consider trusting you."

"Then how about a small step," Janeway said. "You return one of the hostages, and I'll send a supply of food and medicine."

Verin looked down. Neelix saw that he was looking at the transporter enhancers he'd taken off the away team.

"Which one of you can show me how to use these?" he said.

"I can," Chakotay said.

"Commander," Carey said, trying to sit up.

"I appreciate the effort, Joe," Chakotay said. "But with your head injury you'd probably put them together backwards." He added a smile. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you're the one sent back so the Doctor can take care of your head.

Neelix had a feeling, a voice in the back of his mind telling him to stand up and go in the commander's place, but before he could protest, Chakotay had already walked over to stand next to Verin.

* * *

"Impressive, Commander," Verin said as Chakotay locked the last transporter enhancer in place. "Now, get inside the triangle you've created."

Chakotay frowned.

"I have a wounded man," he said. "He needs-"

"This will give your Captain more incentive to remain true to her word," Verin said. "And by sending you back, the most valuable member of her crew, she'll know I am serious about what I say."

Chakotay didn't like the tone of Verin's voice, but with armed men all over the cave there wasn't much he could do. Only a few of them had their guns out, but that fact wasn't enough to justify the risk.

He looked back at Neelix and Joe Carey.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I'll make sure this is resolved as quick as possible."

"Commander?" Neelix said.

"He's sending me back. Not my idea. Make sure Lieutenant Carey doesn't pass out."

"I promise," Neelix said, looking worried. Chakotay stood in the center between the three transporter enhancers.

"Your man is ready to transport, Captain," Verin said.

"Very good," Janeway said. "Beam him to sickbay," she added to someone on the bridge.

"Is there anything you'd like me to tell the Captain?" Chakotay asked. He felt the tingle of a transporter lock, temporarily immobilizing him as it prepared to break down his component atoms for transport.

"You won't need to say anything," Verin said, picking up a rifle off a nearby table and pointing it at Chakotay.

"No!" he heard Neelix yell as Verin took aim and-

* * *

"Bridge to sickbay, what happened?" Janeway yelled, having heard Neelix shout and the sound of gunfire.

"I- I'm sorry," The Doctor said, sounding as though he were about to cry; a change he had not yet added to his subroutines though he had considered it in the past. "Commander Chakotay is dead."

The bridge went silent. Janeway gripped the railing by the auxiliary tactical console where she'd been standing when she gave the order to Harry to activate the transporter. She felt like she was about to fall over. She stole a glance at the console, and saw the button that would launch a barrage of torpedoes and for what felt like years, she seriously contemplated it.

"Why?" Otrin yelled. "Verin, you idiot! Do you honestly believe they will help us after what you've just done?"

"Don't force me to kill anyone else," Verin said. "We've suffered for decades. Three years won't make that much difference. I will come along with the first wave. Once I see my people settled, we will return here, and you can send a medic to treat your Mister Carey. You have one hour to begin modifying your transporters for large groups."

"I can't-" Janeway started to say, but the sound of a comm channel closing cut her off.

"Harry, Tom, Tuvok, my ready room. Now." Janeway said.

* * *

Neelix focused on helping Joe Carey stay awake. He had to, it was the only thing keeping him from either crying or attacking the nearest Uxali in a fit of what he knew would be ultimately impotent rage. Several _Voyager_ crew members had died in the seven years he'd been with the ship. He hadn't been close to all of them, but that didn't make the loss he felt any lesser. This though was something different. Of all the deaths, Chakotay was the one he'd been the closest to. The two of them had faced death together. That was the kind of bond between sentients that few ever understood and even fewer had actually experienced.

"Is the Commander alright?" Carey asked weakly, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"I don't know," Neelix lied, seeing the image of the top of the Commander's head exploding in his mind's eye over and over again. Not even The Doctor, amazing as he was, could bring a crewmember back from that.

"You're suffering radiation sickness now," a soft voice said. Neelix only then realized that Brin was in front of him and Carey, handing them each a bowl of some kind of herb or vegetable. "This should help with the symptoms."

"Why are you helping us?" Neelix said.

Brin didn't respond. She simply made sure they had their respective bowls, then walked away.

"Probably figures we aren't good hostages if we're dead," Carey said, closing his eyes. "I'm just gonna take a nap now."

"No, you're not," Neelix said, lightly slapping the side of Carey's face. _I've lost one friend today already_ , he thought.

* * *

When Janeway walked in to sickbay, the Doctor stood between her and the bio-bed where Chakotay's body was, his arms crossed. She saw the body was completely covered in a large sheet, so much so that she couldn't even make out the frame of her friend and first officer.

"I know why you're here, Captain."

"Can I see him?"

"I don't think you should," The Doctor said.

Janeway glowered at The Doctor. "This is not the time to pull medical rank with me."

"I'm not telling you this as a doctor," The Doctor said. "I'm telling you this as your friend. I don't want you, or anyone for that matter, to see him as he is now. If I could, I'd forget too, but we already know what happens when we try to alter my memories like that."

Janeway sighed.

"Tell me," she said, closing her eyes.

"It was a crude weapon. A sort of ugly hybrid between an energy weapon and a solid projectile. The top third of his head, it was just, gone when he beamed in. There was nothing I could've done. I just wish there was a nicer way I could've put that, but at the same time I think you understand now why I don't want to let you see the body."  
Janeway flinched somewhat when The Doctor used the word 'body,' as if somehow that made this more real than it already was. She heard the door to sickbay open and turned in time to see a very concerned looking Jaffen walk in.

"Kathy, I heard what happened," he said, He took her in his arms. She made no effort to resist him, but she couldn't bring herself to hold him back. "Are you holding up okay?"

She considered lying, but the only other people who could hear were the man she loved, and a man bound by confidentiality.

"I'm holding it together for the sake of the crew," she said. "But I really, really want to hurt someone right now. Federation principle be damned, I want to dig my thumbs into Verin's throat. He's lucky he's not here. And I'm lucky my crew is. They need me to be their rock right now." She closed her eyes and leaned into Jaffen. "And I need you to be mine."

"I hate to do this, Captain," The Doctor said, "but I would prefer if you remained outside while I performed the autopsy."

The word 'autopsy' was when Janeway finally started to cry.

 _I need to get this out of my system before I go back to the bridge,_ she thought. _The rescue mission-_

"Damn," she said.

"What is it?" Jaffen asked.

"Doctor, in my… grief, I forgot to tell you why I came to see you. We need you, and Mister Otrin's former clothes, for the rescue mission Mister Tuvok and I devised."

"What do you need me to do, Captain?"

* * *

Neelix looked up when he heard a loud groan. He saw Brin, clutching her stomach as two Uxali women came to help her walk. It didn't take much more for Neelix to realize that the woman had gone into labor.

"Help them," Joe Carey said.

"I don't have a lot of experience with-" Neelix said.

"I can talk you through it," Joe said. "What I can remember anyway. I was there when my kids were born."

Neelix shook his head. "I'd be happy to help any way I could, but there's no way Verin would let me."

"Can you help?" Neelix heard Verin say, unaware that the man had heard them. He looked at Verin with undisguised anger.

"After what you just did?"

"The baby is too soon," Verin said, sounding for the first time like something other than full of rage. "She thinks you can help. I still don't trust you, but there are so few of us left."

Neelix took in a deep breath.

"Okay," he said. "Bring her over here. Mister Carey will help me as best he can. I'll also need one of the medkits you confiscated from us."

Neelix got to work, trying to remember the few things he picked up about the process from when Samantha Wildman had gone into labor years ago when Naomi was born.

 _I just hope Uxali births are similar enough to humans_ , he thought.

Neelix caught an armed Uxali man run up to Verin and whisper something to him. Verin went over to a nearby console and pushed several buttons. "Send a patrol. Double the guards at the entrance," he said.

Neelix wondered if it was a rescue mission from _Voyager_.

 _If so_ , he thought, _I appreciate the effort, but they picked a really bad time._

* * *

The Doctor, wearing Otrin's now discarded makeshift radiation suit, pointed an Uxali rifle at Tuvok.

"I got one of them," he yelled in a distorted voice, and hoped that none of the several armed Uxali who approached realized he wasn't one of the other patrol members that the rest of the away team had scattered with a barrage of phaser rifle fire.

"I'll take him to Verin," The Doctor said, grabbing Tuvok by the arm of his environmental suit. "Find the others."

The other Uxali did exactly that, and The Doctor was grateful the deceit was working so far. Once he was sure they were out of sight and earshot, he slid the handphaser he'd been hiding in his disguise out and handed it to Tuvok, who proceeded to hide it again, this time in the place where the suit's medkit would normally be.

"Lieutenants Kim and Ayala should have the rest of the patrol immobilized shortly," Tuvok said. "We should make haste to the caves nonetheless."

"Agreed" The Doctor said.

"You should also keep the rifle in your hands pointed at my back for the sake of appearances, in case we are seen before reaching the entrance."

The two made their way through the snow. The Doctor had never personally witnessed a nuclear winter before. He found it paradoxically both beautiful and macabre. Once they were inside the entrance of the cave, and past the guards, he walked Tuvok right up to Verin, honestly surprised that no one had questioned his identity thus far.

"Put him with the others," Verin said, motioning for Tuvok to be moved near Neelix and Carey. The Doctor looked and noticed that the two men were surrounded not by armed Uxali, but by unarmed ones, including a woman cradling an infant. "You should thank whatever Gods you believe in that Janeway sent you down at this moment. Because your friends there saved the life of that newborn boy, I'll forgo executing any of you for this. But if it happens again, I swear to you-"

"Now," Tuvok said.

The Doctor had a phaser set on stun in his hand in seconds, dropping Verin quickly while Tuvok took out his own weapon. Within seconds every armed Uxali was unconscious, The rest appeared scared as The Doctor removed the suit's helmet while Tuvok contacted _Voyager_ to let them know the mission was a success.

"Doctor?" Neelix said.

"When you need to infiltrate a toxic environment," The Doctor said, "it helps if you're a hologram. I just wish we'd thought of this sooner."

"Doctor," Neelix said, "this baby needs your help. I don't think he'll survive without treatment."

The Doctor walked over to the newborn, and scanned him. "You're right, he's already suffering from radiation exposure, even with all the magnesite. Ma'am? You should come with us."

"But-" the woman said,

"Brin," Neelix said, "this is the best Doctor within a hundred light years. He can help you, and your son. Let him."

"I'll need to treat Mister Carey immediately, too," The Doctor said, running his medical tricorder over the assistant chief engineer while Neelix talked to the woman he'd called Brin.

"Luckily there shouldn't be any permanent brain damage."

"I'd feel better if you just said no brain damage without the qualifier, Doc," Carey said.

"The fact that you can crack a joke right now is sign that you'll recover quickly," The Doctor said.

"Okay," Brin said. "But you have to promise me you'll send us back."

"We promise," Neelix said, offering her a hand to help her up.

* * *

"He's already responding to treatment," The Doctor said as Janeway looked down on the Uxali infant. Janeway looked at the boy's mother, sleeping peacefully in a biobed, receiving treatments of her own like those Otrin had been receiving. After only a day the latter Uxali had lost almost all visible signs of radiation poisoning, giving the _Voyager_ their first look at what the species had looked like before the disaster.

"How's Joe doing?" Janeway asked.

"Bed rest, for now," The Doctor said. "I think because of a combination of his concussion and shock his mind couldn't process what happened to Commander Chakotay. It's a bit early to tell, but I'm recommending he speak with a specialist on Earth at the first opportunity. He's almost certainly going to be dealing with survivor's guilt once he's fully recovered."

"Once the baby and the mother are well enough," Janeway said, "transport them and Otrin to the surface, along with some food and medical supplies. I can't condemn the entire race because of what Verin did, as tempting as it is. Chakotay would never forgive me."

"We're leaving?" Neelix said. Janeway hadn't realized the Talaxian was awake. He hadn't appeared to be when she came to sickbay. The Doctor had said he'd been fortunate not to be as affected by the radiation as Mister Carey, but that The Doctor used triage to determine that Carey and the newborn needed treatment first.

"Once we've returned our guests, and as soon as I report to Starfleet," Janeway said.

"Captain, once we send them back they're just going to get sick again. Didn't you say there might be a way to neutralize the radiation?"

"Yes," Janeway said. "But they made it clear they didn't want our help."

"Verin didn't want our help," Neelix said.

"And he killed Commander Chakotay," Janeway said. "I won't waste time and resources helping murderers."

"I'm not saying we should forget what happened," Neelix said, "but if you saw how they were living, how desperate they are-"

"That's enough, Mister Neelix," Janeway said.

"What would Chakotay say if here were here right now?" Neelix said. Sickbay seemed to get quiet, the tension between the Captain and Neelix growing palpable. She looked around and saw The Doctor trying very hard to avoid looking at them, scanning the infant again even though he had just done that a moment ago.

Janeway just glared at Neelix, keeping her mouth shut. She considered Neelix a friend and she just knew that if she said what was on her mind in that moment that could ruin that forever.

"It wasn't intentional," Neelix said, "but that probe had a terrible impact on these people. Yes, the fault lies mostly with them for not securing the core of their power plant properly. But not entirely. Humanity bears a portion of the blame too. Isn't that what Chakotay would be telling you right now?"

Janeway thought about it. She wanted to say, "No," but she knew deep down that that would be a lie.

"He'd want us to at least try to help these people," she said quietly. She sighed and looked at The Doctor. "I'll be in engineering."

* * *

Seven resented having to be in engineering right now. She wanted to be with her family. She felt they needed her this day more than ever. Each of them had suffered loss before. They'd all felt sad before, but the Commander's death had affected all of them deeply. Icheb even expressed a desire for revenge, something he'd never done before.

But the Captain had insisted she aide Otrin in engineering, so here she was, waiting for Captain Janeway to arrive so that Otrin, herself, and Ensign Vorik, filling in for an injured Joe Carey and a grieving B'Elanna Torres, could demonstrate what they'd developed to help the Uxali.

The entire crew felt the sting of the Commander's loss of course, but it was unsurprising that B'Elanna, who had known him longer than anyone aboard _Voyager_ , had taken it the hardest.

When Janeway came in, Otrin wasted no time.

"I've changed the radiation levels in this canister here to match conditions on the surface," he said. "I've also added an agent to the air in it that will allow you to see the radioactive particles."

"That explains why it looks like a rain cloud in there," Janeway said.

"Exactly," Otrin said. "Now, watch." He added a device to the side of the canister and activated it.

"If this works as we believe it will," Seven said, "An isolitic chain reaction will occur."

"Meaning?"

"It recombines the nucleonic particles in the atmosphere," Vorik said. "The results will not be instantaneous. How-"

Vorik's sentence was cut off by a glow coming from the canister. Janeway took a step back, but Seven raised her hands in a calming gesture.

"This reaction from the air inside the canister was expected, Captain," she said.

The glow got brighter for a half a second, then appeared to vanish, leaving the canister empty.

"Good work," Janeway said. "How do we apply your methods on a planetary scale?"

"Atmospheric processors are one possibility," Seven said.

"Too bad we don't have a corp of engineers on hand to build them," Janeway said.

"True," Seven said.

"What if we infused some photon torpedoes with the catalytic agent and used the concussive force to start the reaction?" Janeway said

"That would be the fastest way to do it," Otrin said. "But it would look like an orbital attack from the caves. Verin could easily use it to rally the other survivors around him."

"What could they do to us from down there?" Janeway said, her tone suggesting a legitimate question rather than arrogant dismissal.

"The unused antimatter missiles," Otrin said. "They're still in their silos, and I know for a fact that most if not all of them still work."

"Captain," Vorik said, "we have enough raw resources aboard to create at least one, perhaps two, atmospheric processors. Providing them as well as the schematics to build more, to the Uxali would improve their conditions."

"Seeing as they've been aware of Earth for over a hundred years, I can't exactly argue that on Prime Directive grounds," Janeway said, "but in terms of practicality, what would it take to get two working processors assembled?"

"In total," Seven said, "including replicating necessary parts, assembly, determining where on the planet to place them, several days."

"Get started," Janeway said. "In the meantime, Otrin, are you well enough to travel?"

"I've been healthy enough to return home since yesterday, Captain. I stayed largely so I could help."

"I appreciate it. But for now, you and I are going to have a talk with Verin."

"Captain," Seven said, honestly stunned by what she was hearing. "Going to meet him in person is far too dangerous. He was perfectly willing to murder Commander Chakotay. He would likely execute you on site."

"He'd have to go through me to do it," Otrin said. "I'm more than healthy enough to take on Verin if I have to."

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Janeway said. "Brin and the baby are coming with us too. I'm returning all three of you home personally."

"At least take a phaser with you for defense," Vorik said, "if you insist on this unwise course of action."

"No," Janeway said. Seven got the impression from the way she said it that she wasn't doing it as a sign of good faith to Verin, but more like she was afraid she would lose control and attempt to get revenge for Chakotay. While she did not approve of this plan any more than Vorik did, she wasn't going to argue the point.

* * *

When Janeway entered the transport room, she was surprised, but not exactly shocked, to see Jaffen there.

"If you're planning to try and talk me out of this-"

"Come on, Kathy. I may not have known you that long, but I know you well enough. I can't talk you out of anything once you've really set your mind to it. So, instead of trying to convince you not to do the bad idea…" He stepped up onto the transporter pad, standing between Otrin and Brin. "I'm going to go and do the bad idea with you."

"Jaffen," Janeway said, frowning. "I can't lose you too."

"You won't," Jaffen said. "I"m going to be there when you win this thing. Once this Verin character sees what you're willing to do to help his planet, he'll back down. And if he doesn't, I bet some of his people will and will try to stop him is he does anything rash."

"You're that sure that's what's going to happen?" Janeway said.

"Absolutely," Jaffen said.

Janeway groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Fine. I don't have time to argue anyway." She stepped onto the transporter pad, made sure the helmet on her environmental suit was secure, and gave Lieutenant Kitrick the order to beam them down.

When they materialized in the cave, the party had weapons pointed at them immediately, but Verin himself gave the order to hold fire. He walked up to Brin, shoving aside the others as he did so and looked at the baby in awe.

"You're both alive. And healthy," he said. "May I?"

Brin took a small step back. "Yes, but only after you listen to what Captain Janeway has to say."

"Janeway?" Verin said, turning quickly to look in her direction. "You!"

He reached for a gun, but Otrin grabbed his arm as Jaffen moved in front of her. She gently moved Jaffen aside as Otrin and Verin continued to struggle, glad that Verin's judgement seemed too clouded by anger to make the obvious call to order one of his subordinates to shoot them.

"I want you to understand one thing before we continue the conversation that you rudely interrupted by murdering a member of my crew," she said. "The only reason I am helping you now, instead of just leaving once these people were treated," she motioned at Otrin and Brin, "is because it's what Chakotay would've wanted. He would've insisted we least try to help."

"You're not just going to kill me?" Verin said, finally giving up the fight once Otrin had what had been his own weapon trained on him. "Why should I believe that?"

"You really are blinded by hate," Janeway said. "Use your brain, Verin. I came down here, unarmed, with only my friend and two of your people to protect me. I needed you to be able to look me in the eye and see that I am telling the truth when I tell you that working with Otrin, we have found a way to start clearing the antimatter radiation from your atmosphere."

"Why should I believe you? Any of you?" Verin looked back and forth between Otrin and Brin. "How do I do she didn't poison your minds somehow?"

Janeway started to unclasp her helmet.

"Uh, Kathy?" Jaffen said. "Is that really the best-"

She had the helmet off before he could finish the question.

"Look me in the eye," she said forcefully. Otrin nudged him with the point of the rifle.

"Do it," he said. Verin walked up to Janeway, fist clenched.

Janeway repeated what she'd said before about the atmosphere, adding the details about how it worked that Otrin had given her.

"I saw it work with my own eyes," Otrin said. "It will be a slow process, but it can be done."

Verin stepped back. "Can this technology rebuild our cities? Bring back the people who died?"

"They're offering us their help," Otrin said, "despite being in a position to just leave. The Captain chose to come down here of her own free will. After you murdered her second-in-command in cold blood. Do you really care about our people Verin, or do you just want revenge for what you think happened?"

"You thought it too," Verin said.

"Yes, I did. But I was wrong. This was never about conquest. Over a hundred years ago, Captain Janeway's species made a poor decision. Putting design specs for how to harness antimatter in their probe when they had no idea how or even if any race that encountered it had either the intelligence or temperament to use it safely. And you know what? We did. So many other races would've used that power to make war, but we didn't. What happened to us was an accident, Verin."

"Why do you trust them?" Verin said, but to Janeway's ear it sounded like he was losing confidence in his argument.

 _He's trying to convince himself, not everyone else_.

"They sent armed men to attack us!" Verin said.

"To rescue hostages," Otrin said. "We would've done the same in their place and you know it. And keep in mind they did not kill anyone. That was you. They used non-lethal weaponry. Did any of the guards they shot die?"

Verin frowned, refusing to answer the question.

"That's a 'No,' I take it," Jaffen said.

"Jaffen," Janeway said, calmly.

"Sorry," Jaffen said.

"Friend? I know that tone. You brought your lover down with you, Captain?" Verin said. "That is either very brave or very stupid."

"I don't see the two as mutually exclusive," Janeway said.

Verin let out a short laugh.

"I will not a be party to this," Verin said. "I can see that none of you," he looked at the gathered crowd of Uxali, including the guards whose weapons were all lowered, "will listen to reason. Trust her, then. I will go to the ruins of my old city. I will not watch my people sign their own death warrant."

"Verin-" Brin started to say.

"Let him go," Otrin said. "Assuming he doesn't kill himself, we can find him once we've started the atmospheric processors. Once he sees for himself that it works…"

"One can only hope," Janeway said, knowing all too well that some people can never be convinced of the truth, even when they see it with their own eyes.

* * *

Samantha watched the streaks of lights pass by through the viewport in the mess hall. Things had taken longer than expected to get the first few atmospheric processors up and running, but once active they exceeded expectations. Large swaths of the Uxali homeworld were still too radioactive to resettle, but according to Seven of Nine, it wouldn't take much longer than two to three years for Otrin's people to start building processors of their own.

"Enjoying the view?"

Sam turned to see Joe Carey standing a few feet behind her.

"Hey, Joe," she said. "Glad to see you up and around."

"Well," Carey said, "I've been recovered from the concussion for almost two weeks now. I just haven't been leaving my quarters much."

"So that's why I didn't see you at the memorial," Sam said.

"Yeah," Carey said, sighing. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay. No one held it against you. A lot of us were worried you were blaming yourself for what happened."

"As Vorik would put it, 'an accurate assessment,'" Carey said, taking a seat next to Sam at the table, looking out the viewport himself. "If I hadn't fought back I wouldn't have been smacked in the head, and I would've been the one to assemble the transporter enhancers."

"And you'd be the one who'd be dead," Sam said bluntly.

"And?"

"What about your sons, Joe?" Sam said. "Speaking parent to parent, do you really think that your boys wouldn't be traumatized by the knowledge that their father was murdered by a mad man? You dying would be hard on them no matter what the circumstance obviously, but like that? No way. Maybe if you dying had saved an entire civilization from genocide, or ended the threat of the Borg once and for all, they could at least take comfort in you going out like a hero. But what Verin did…"

The two _Voyager_ crew members fell silent, the background chatter of the other officers as they talked over their own meals the only noise in the room.

"If you want to honor Chakotay," Sam said, "then do what you know he'd want you to do. Live, and do good."

"Live and do good," Carey repeated quietly. "Yeah, I can do that."

* * *

Seven saw B'Elanna standing outside Chakotay's quarters leaning against the wall.

"Are you alright, B'Elanna? Seven said.

"Hmm? Oh, hi, Seven," B'Elanna shook her head. "Just, apparently during the whole construction project the Captain pulled up Chakotay's… His will, basically, although Starfleet uses a somewhat less loaded word for it these days, but that's what it's called. Chakotay left me some of his family's tribal artifacts."

Seven leaned against the wall next to B'Elanna and just listened. Had this happened several years ago she likely would've tactlessly told B'Elanna to just get on with it, or worse made some snide comment about "foolish organic sentimentality."

"I've come here three times in the past two days, but I can't make myself go in there," B'Elanna continued.

"Would it help if I went in with you?" Seven asked.

"You know, maybe it would. Lucky for me he included pictures," B'Elanna said, holding up a PADD. "In addition to items belonging to his tribe, he also had a number of items from other Native American tribes, The ones from his were obviously family heirlooms, or items important to his faith. The others he kept for historical value, or for artistic reasons. Thing is, without a handy guide, there's no way in hell I'd be able to the difference just by looking."

Seven sighed.

"What is it?" B'Elanna asked.

"I just realized something. In the four years I knew the Commander, all the times I listened to him talk about his people's rituals and beliefs, I somehow managed to never actually learn which tribe he belonged to."

B'Elanna snorted. "I'm sorry, but, in a weird way that is kinda funny."

"Seems like something I should know," Seven said. "I wasn't as close to him as many people aboard were. I wouldn't call him a friend. But I respected him. Both Naomi and Icheb looked up to him. He took time out of his day to help Sam when Naomi was still a baby."

"Yeah," B'Elanna said. "Nothing's going to be the same around here, is it?"

* * *

The crew had retrieved the remains of Friendship I, but none could bring themselves to come by and look at it, so Janeway had it placed into containers in cargo bay 1. The general mood of the ship had grown darker since they've left Uxali space. Working to build the atmospheric processors and recover the probe had served as a distraction for the members of the crew involved in the process, but that just meant that unlike everyone else, the reaction to their loss had been delayed.

She went through the motions of command, grateful that no other crisis had presented itself in the intervening weeks. There were still things that needed to be done. Appointing a new first officer for starters. But that she felt she could put off a little while longer. B'Elanna had, without being asked, volunteered to take on the task of informing Chakotay's sister. Jaffen had been a source of comfort, talking when she needed him to, and shutting up when she didn't.

Ever present at the back of her mind though, even as she casually gave orders on the bridge as she had so many times in the past seven years, was the thought that this was it for her. The burdens of command could be trying for anyone. Even the best Captains in Starfleet history had had breaking points. Some drove them to take time away, others to the admiralty, and even some into retirement and civilian life.

She felt she was at hers now. She'd felt this way once before, after the incident with Arturis and the _Dauntless_ , but she's come back from that. Now though, if she could just snap her fingers like a Q and go home right this moment she would, and the first thing she would do afterwards is turn in her resignation.

She'd kept this thought to herself. Not even Jaffen knew it, not yet anyway. No point in telling anyone now, not when her crew was still 30 years from home, coming up on 29.

As the chronometer ticked over to 1200 hours, she decided there was one task she couldn't put off any longer.

 _Tuvok_ , she thought, looking at the empty first officer's chair. _That's obvious. As for new chief of security, I'll ask him, but if I were the gambling type I'd go all in on him suggesting Lieutenant Ayala._

Within twelve hours, she was proven right.

 **Chapter Ten**

"A party?" Brian Sofin asked.

"Well, yes," Neelix said. "I've been shirking my duties lately as morale officer, and things may seem normal, but I think you know as well as I do, Brian, that morale hasn't recovered any in the past two months."

"Can you blame them?"

"Of course not," Neelix said. "But I knew Commander Chakotay pretty well, and he would not want us to use his death as an excuse to stop living."

"Neither would I, but.. A party?"

"It's the best way I know to boost moral for the majority of the crew," Neelix said. "And it's not like it's completely random, I have a justification."

"Which is?"

"We're a few days away from the the 315th anniversary of Vulcan-Human First Contact. Without that event, the Federation you know and love probably wouldn't exist today."

Sofin winced. "Right, I forgot this week was First Contact Day. My parents always liked to watch old recording of Zefram Cochrane speeches on FC day. I would watch with them when I could, unless I was on assignment, before, well…"

"Exactly!" Neelix said. "I've already thrown one FC day party before; five years ago for the 310th. I think I even still have the decorations that Kes helped me make in storage."

Brian looked like he was considering Neelix's idea carefully. He smiled, and Neelix knew he had a helper to put this thing together for the crew. He knew from experience that nothing would be 100% exactly as it was before the Commander's death, just as things changed to one degree or another after the loss of any crewmember, but at least the ship would start to feel like a home again.

* * *

"Enter," Joe Carey said, staring at his unfinished ship-in-a-bottle. The tiny _Voyager_ inside only had one nacelle left to go. It had had only one nacelle left to go for months. Work on the project, despite it being his favorite hobby, came to a screeching halt when Commander Chakotay died.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," B'Elanna said as she entered Carey's quarters.

"No," Carey said. "How can I help you?"

"I'll get straight to the point. You know I'm starting my maternity leave next week. The Doctor thinks I should start it sooner but, screw him. The point is, I need you to take over as chief engineer while I'm on bed rest, and for at least the first few weeks with Miral."

"Mir- Oh, I didn't know you and Tom had picked a name," Carey said.

"I said it in engineering the other day, Joe. Which you'd know if you'd shown up on time."

"Sorry, about that," Joe said. "I just-"

"I know why," B'Elanna said. "I know what survivor's guilt looks like, Joe. I let it slide for a good while, made everyone else keep quiet and not report it to the captain, but you've been slacking. Showing up late, doing the bare minimum…"

"Then why are you asking me to take charge?" Joe said.

"Vorik's not ready for a leadership role, Mulcahey's a floater between engineering and transporter control, and Gilmore hasn't earned back all her clearances yet. That leaves you. I know you took it hard and that you blame yourself, but two months is too long. Especially when it's not like we can just pop over to a Starbase or colony and give you extended shore leave."

"Yeah, you're right," Joe said. "Fact is I've been feeling guilty about my survivor's guilt. Don't tell me how silly that sounds, I know. I've been thinking for awhile I need to just get back to work. I guess I just needed a kick in the pants to do it."

B'Elanna smiled and gave Joe a friendly slap on the shoulder. "Well, that went easier than I expected. I was worried I'd have to shout at you."

Joe laughed. "Better that than breaking my nose."

B'Elanna shook her head. "Seven years later and you still won't let that go huh?"

"Hey, I forgave you a long time ago, you know that. But forgiveness doesn't automatically mean I stop ribbing you about it." Joe laughed. He was pretty sure it was the first time he'd laughed in awhile.

"There's the Joe Carey I know and tolerate," B'Elanna said with a wink. "Now get your ass to engineering so I can give my last set of orders to the team."

* * *

Captain Janeway sat in her chair as the current bridge shift started, coffee in hand. Tuvok, still looking like he felt out of place in command red, sat in the first officer's chair, looking at his monitor. Sue Brooks was at the helm today. Harry was at ops, and Lieutenant Ayala at tactical. Seven of Nine and Samantha Wildman were on the bridge for this shift as well. All was normal, or at least the new normal.

A beeping from the ops console broke Janeway's train of thought.

"I'm picking up a signal from an emergency beacon. It's degraded considerably, the beacon looks to be decades old, at least."

"Can you decipher the signal?" Janeway said.

Harry tapped a few buttons, and Janeway saw his eyes go wide.

"I recognize this," he said.

"Harry?"

"The signal. It's a distress beacon, I can tell that much. Text, no audio, or at least none I've registered yet. References to a 'generation ship,' I think. Captain, the message is in an old dialect of Talaxian."

"Well, that's certainly unexpected," Samantha Wildman said from the main science station.

"To put it mildly," Seven said.

"Shall I have Mister Neelix summoned to the bridge?" Commander Tuvok said.

"Absolutely," Janeway said. "He'll want to see this. And maybe have some idea how a Talaxian signal got out this far."

"If Mister Kim's translation is correct," Seven said, "I believe the phrase 'generation ship' may be the answer."

"I don't recall him saying anything his people having sent out generation ships before," Harry said, "but then again based on how old the sensor data tells us that beacon is it's older than he is. It's possible it just never occurred to him to mention it."

* * *

Neelix watched the viewscreen, pacing because he was too excited to sit down. Upon being informed of the situation he had to give it considerable thought, but a quick skim of his old ship's historical database confirmed what he suspected; this was from a ship that his ancestors had launched in the early days of their exploration into space.

Its name was in a dialect that hadn't been used on his homeworld since before he was born, but it's name translated roughly as _The Future_. It had left Talax with 7 female and 5 male crew members, plus 1300 Talaxians from all walks of life in cryogenic sleep. His people had gone looking for it once they'd developed faster-than-light drives, and made contact with other species, but no sign of _The Future_ had ever been found, and it was presumed lost. Neelix wondered how it had gotten this far out. Even back then, according to Seven of Nine, the Borg were active in the Delta Quadrant, along the most likely path the ship would've had to take to get from Talax to where the beacon had been found.

"Perhaps the Talaxians found a wormhole that we missed," Harry said.

"Possible," Seven said, "though the timeframe, based on our estimations of when the emergency beacon was deployed, would place the generation ship's passage through Borg space at the height of our conflict with the El Aurians."

"How long did that last?" Neelix said.

"Hundreds of years. Prior to Species 8472, the El Aurians proved the most difficult species to assimilate," Seven said.

"I'd always wondered about that," Janeway said, "but El Aurians in the Alpha Quadrant are notoriously reluctant to talk about it. I hope they got a few good kicks in before they went down."

"While only a few hundred survived to make it to the Alpha Quadrant as refugees," Seven said, "before the end they managed to destroy nearly a dozen cubes, more than half of them in the final year of the conflict."

"I apologize for interrupting," Harry Kim said, "but I finished the translation of the message. The translation program Neelix gave me was a big help."

"So what happened?" Neelix asked.

"Apparently there was an engine failure caused by their main computer. Apparently it was a very crude A.I. and, for want of a better phrase, lost its mind."

"I didn't even know my people had ever tried to create artificial intelligences," Neelix said, surprised.

"When did this happen?" Janeway asked.

"Only about fifty years ago, surprisingly," Harry said. "The crew was able to get control back, but the computer shut down several dozen of the cryo pods, killing the occupants. The next paragraph is corrupted, I can't tell what it says, but after that is says they sent the last of their probes out to find a suitable place to land."

"A lot of habitable planets between here and Rinax," Tom said. "Wonder why they didn't pick any of those."

Neelix shrugged. "Maybe they didn't want to settle any place that already had sentient life? That's just a guess, don't quote me."

"We won't know until we find any of the crew's descendants," Janeway said. "If this was only fifty years ago, there's a good chance we may find some. Seven, do a full long range scan. See where the most likely place the Talaxians would've ended up and give the data to Tom. Mister Paris, once you have a location, plot a course."

"Aye, Captain," Tom said, while Seven simply nodded and manipulated the controls at her console.

* * *

"There is definitely an M-class planet on the other side of that asteroid field," Samantha Wildman said, looking at her console while both Neelix and Captain Janeway looked over her shoulder. "And I'm pretty sure I'm getting lifesigns from it, but something in the field itself is interfering with the sensors."

"It is awfully dense," Neelix said. "I don't think I've seen an asteroid field that densely packed before."

"I have," Janeway said, "but it's not common, no argument here."

"I could dodge those rocks easily enough with _Voyager_ ," Tom said, "but given that interference Sam's talking about I'd rather not risk it."

"Captain," Sam said, "now that we're closer, I'm thinking this interference might not be naturally occurring."

"Agreed," Janeway said. "Which could mean the Talaxians set-up makeshift bases in the the larger asteroids. Or they could've settled that planet on the other side and are mining the asteroids. Either way, if there are survivors from _The Future_ , we'll find proof in that asteroid field. We'll take _Voyager_ around the field to go to the planet. A small team can take the _Delta Flyer_ through the field itself. If nothing else, they can confirm if the interference is naturally occurring or not."

"Captain," Neelix said, "I'd like to be on the _Flyer_ team."

"Why?" Captain Janeway asked.

"Call it a gut feeling," Neelix said. "If I've learned anything traveling with you Captain, it's that it's a good idea to listen to one's instincts."

 _As long as I don't have to go, I'm happy,_ Samantha thought. _Me, the_ Delta Flyer, _and giant rocks? No thanks._

* * *

The _Delta Flyer_ entered the asteroid field, and Neelix marveled at how close together all the rocks were while not appearing to collide with each other.

"I wonder if maybe someone put this here," Neelix said to Lieutenant Ayala, who sat at the tactical console, while Tom Paris piloted the craft.

"Just because it's rare for asteroid fields to be this dense," Ayala said, "doesn't mean it's not naturally occurring."

"Could be the debris from an exploded planet," Tom said. "Last dense field like this I ever saw in the Alpha Quadrant had been a planet a thousand years before the Federation existed." Well, I only saw it in pictures taken by the _Enterprise_ , but still."

"Sounds interesting," Neelix said. "What happened?"

"Well, there was this war between two ancient-"

"Mister Paris," Ayala said, "I'm picking up lifesigns at bearing 108, mark 26. They appear to be Talaxians. Hundreds of them, inside three of the larger rocks."

"Well, that answers one question," Neelix said. "Can we hail them?"

Ayala touched a button, and waited.

"No response. No sign they didn't receive it, it looks like they're ignoring us."

"Maybe if we try greeting them in Tal-"

Neelix wasn't able to finish his suggestion, as a loud noise, followed by the ship shuddering, cut him off.

"What was that?" he said.

"A thermalyte explosive," Ayala said.

"How close was that?" Tom said.

"30.6 kilometers to port," Ayala said. "If it was that close and shook us that little-"

A much more severe shudder passed through the ship.

"That one was closer," Ayala said. "Are these mines or did we accidentally stumble on the Talaxians blasting these rocks to get the raw materials?"

A third shudder.

"That one took out our shields," Ayala said. "It threw the impulse drive out of alignment too."

"Switching to thrusters," Tom said.

"The main Talaxian asteroid is close enough for us to make a landing," Neelix said, looking at his own console.

"If they're doing this on purpose that might be a bad idea," Tom said. Before anyone could reply there was another explosion, and the _Delta Flyer_ shook so violently everyone was thrown forward painfully into their consoles.

"Dammit, main propulsion is off-line," Tom said. "I'm gonna have to put us down on that rock anyway before we crash into one without people who can help us fix the damage. Better get ready to do some fancy talking, Neelix."

The _Delta Flyer_ jerked forward. Neelix watched the main viewport as the asteroid, structures sticking out one side of it, got closer and closer; much too fast for his liking.

"This landing's gonna be a bit rough," Tom said, "but if it's any consolation, the _Flyer's_ been through worse."

Upon impact, Neelix was knocked out his chair. He winced as his head hit something, and everything went black.

* * *

Neelix groaned as his eyes fluttered open. He heard before he saw the sound of a medical device, or at least what he hoped was a medical device, hovering centimeters above his head. When his vision cleared he saw a sight he hadn't expected to ever see outside of old family photos or the holodeck.

A Talaxian. A woman, who held the device, sitting on the edge of the bed Neelix was in.

"Stay still," she said when Neelix tried to sit up. "Don't worry. It's not serious."

 _Her bedside manner is about as warm as The Doctor's used to be_ , Neelix thought.

"I'm inside the asteroid," he said.

"Yes," the female Talaxian said.

"Where are my friends?" Neelix asked.

"If you mean the aliens who were on the ship with you," the female Talaxian said, in a tone that suggested she wasn't using the word alien in the nicest sense of the word, "they're safe."

 _Define safe._

"I'd like to see them," Neelix said.

"You need your rest," the female Talaxian said, standing up quickly. "What were you doing in the asteroid field?" she asked as she placed the device on the table by the side of Neelix's bed.

"Looking for you, actually," Neelix said. "We found the old beacon."

"Really? It still works after all this time?"

"Yes," Neelix said. "Our ship, _Voyager_ , came across it, so we came to look for any survivors."

"Well, here we are."

"I see. My name's Neelix, by the way."

"Dexa," the female Talaxian said. "It's funny, I had an uncle named Neelix."

"Really? I had no idea my name stretched back that far. Your generation ship left so long ago it took us awhile to translate the message on the beacon."

Dexa looked puzzled. "Then how come I can understand you so plainly?"

Neelix pointed to his comm badge, which had been left on him. "It's called a universal translator."

"Interesting," Dexa said. "I'd like to know more about this translator, but first, I'm curious, are there any other Talaxians aboard your ship?"

"No, just me," Neelix said.

"Why are you living with aliens?" Dexa asked, her nose scrunched up as if she'd smelled something offensive.

"They're my friends," Neelix said. He'd considered telling Dexa the truth; that he just didn't like what the bulk of his people had become in recent years, and that apart from a few good friends he largely did not miss his people at all. He realized though that if the other Talaxians on this and the other two asteroids were as xenophobic as Dexa appeared to be, that would probably be the worst thing to say. "We attempted to contact you from our shuttle," he said instead. "Did you receive our hails?"

"Yes," Dexa said.

"Why didn't you respond?"

"We avoid contact with outsiders," Dexa said.

"There were explosions," Neelix said. "Did you-"

"No," Dexa said. "Not deliberately, I mean. We were making holes in the surface of those particular rocks to start mining them for resources. They weren't supposed to go off so soon though. Perhaps something from your shuttle triggered them early. My turn to ask a question now. Why were you and your.. Friends, carrying weapons?"

"Standard procedure for an away mission," Neelix said. "On stun of course."

"Stun? Non-lethal energy weapons? I didn't even know such a thing was possible."

"Oh, absolutely," Neelix said. "We had weapons similar to phasers on Talax not too long after _The Future_ left. We never got as good at mass producing them as Starfleet did though, so they fell out of favor after a while."

"Starfleet?"

"Oh, the organization our ship belongs to. Our ship is called _Voyager_ by the way. The shuttle that crashed is called the _Delta Flyer._ "

"Is Starfleet a military organization?"

Neelix thought about that for a moment. "Sort of, but not really. It's like a hybrid of a military organization, a scientific one, and a diplomatic corp. There's no real analog to it in Talaxian history, so that's the best way I can explain it."

Neelix thought he saw someone moving behind Dexa, so he shifted. He smiled when he saw a child, holding some kind of toy, peeking around the corner of the entrance into the room.

"Hi there," Neelix said. "What's your name?"

Dexa looked confused, but then turned around when the child responded.

"Brax," he said. "What's yours?"

"I told you not to come in here," Dexa said, bending down to look the child in the eyes as she took his hands.

"I wanted to see him," Brax said.

"You're supposed to be helping Oxilon," Dexa said.

"He doesn't look dangerous to me," Brax said, an inquisitive look on his face not too dissimilar to the one Naomi Wildman would get when she was convinced that adults were not telling her the whole story about something.

 _I guess some things are just universal_ , Neelix thought.

"I think you might have the wrong idea about us," Neelix said.

"I'm not supposed to be talking to you at all," Dexa said."

Neelix had a suspicion about the room he was in. He stood up. "I'm feeling better," he said, which was mostly true. His head still hurt, but it was a dull pain. He'd been through much worse. This year, even. "I think I should go see my friends now."

Dexa stepped back and touched something that was out of sight, and a force field visibly snapped into place.

 _Yep, I'm in a cell_ , Neelix thought. _Not a terrible one though, I'll give it that. The bed is comfy._

"I've been told not to let you leave," Dexa said.

The look on her face was all too familiar to Neelix. He'd seen looks like that before, on those among his people who'd bought the propaganda about the Haakonians "hook, line and sinker," as Tom would say.

 _They're repeating the same mistakes their descendants made back on Talax_ , he thought sadly. _I suppose I should be grateful there isn't an alien race nearby for them to launch an unprovoked war against._

* * *

"Captain," Harry said, "there's a ship approaching from astern. We're being hailed."

"Good," Janeway said. "Maybe we'll get lucky and they can explain why we lost contact with the _Flyer_. On screen."

"Identify yourselves," the captain of the other vessel said. He wasn't Talaxian, that was for sure.

"I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship _Voyager_ ," Janeway said.

"Commander Nocona," the other ship's captain said, his tone immediately shifting to one more polite than the one he'd had when asking for identification.

 _Perhaps in his culture it's acceptable to be rude to people if you don't know their names_ , she thought.

"I request to know why you sent a vessel into the asteroid field," Nocona continued.

Janeway gave the thumbnail version of how _Voyager_ had ended up here, and how they'd hoped to make contact with the Talaxians.

"Ah, I see," Nocona said. "Perhaps your friend, this Neelix, can convince the Talaxians to move on."

"Assuming he's alive," Janeway said. "We registered multiple explosions in the field and lost contact with our shuttle."

"Likely just mining charges," Nocona said. "The Talaxians have never been violent. Smug and verbally abusive, but not violent. Your shuttle likely just got too close."

"I take it you've had problems with them before," Janeway said.

"Ever since they came to our world seeking shelter years ago," Nocana said. "But for now, if you require our assistance, our ship is more heavily armored than yours. We have few weapons, this is a patrol ship, but if any charges go off we won't be harmed."

Janeway appreciated that the alien captain was being so direct with her. It was something she wished were more common in this quadrant.

"If I may ask, what exactly were the problems the Talaxians caused?"

"To be fair," Nocona said, "it's largely the younger generation, those born after their ship arrived, that are the issue; they settled in that asteroid field without permission and began mining resources that by rights belonged to us as the field is in our solar system. As it stands, we have no way to remove them without violence, and neither the government nor the public wants that."

 _Oh great_ , Janeway thought. _We stumbled into a political mess. I'd hoped we wouldn't have another one of those for a good long time_.

* * *

Neelix heard a noise, and turned to see Brax standing on the other side of the force field with a weapon that was clearly too big for him to be using. If it wasn't a dangerous weapon, the site of him trying to look intimidating with it would be amusing.

"I don't think you're supposed to be here," Neelix said.

"This is my home," Brax said. "You can't tell me what to do."

"No, I suppose I can't," Neelix said. "I just don't want you to get in trouble."

Brax moved the object in his arms and Neelix realized he'd made an error. It was a not a weapon at all, the child had just been handling whatever it was like one.

"What's that?" Neelix said.

"A model ship," Brax said.

"Really? A Talaxian one?"

"You don't recognize it?"

"Our people's ships haven't looked like that for a long time," Neelix said, trying to get a better look at the model. "I think I saw something like that in a museum once though, on Rinax."

"People live on Rinax now?" Brax said.

Neelix winced. "Well, they did, but something bad happened. It's complicated, and sad to say it was kind of our own fault. Maybe I can explain it to you later."  
"I overheard you tell my mother your ship was named _Voyager_ ," Brax said. "Is it big?"

"Not as big as the ship your ancestors came to this asteroid field on, but she's a decent sized ship," Neelix said. "But she is fast. Nothing faster than her within a hundred light years, I bet."

There was a clanging noise, and Brax gasped. "That's my mother."

"Well you better hide then," Neelix said.

"You won't tell her I'm here?"

"No, of course not," Neelix said. Brax ran off. Another clanging noise followed by footsteps drew Neelix's attention to his right, and he saw Dexa walk in with a male Talaxian, who had to duck slightly to get through the door. Neelix was pretty sure he'd never seen a Talaxian that tall before, and figured that it must've had something to do with having been born in lower gravity environments.

"Neelix," Dexa said, "this is Oxilon, our Council Regent."

"I wish I could say it was nice to meet you," Neelix said, "but this isn't exactly the welcome I was expecting."

"You're free to go now," Oxilon said, touching a button. The force field dropped and Neelix walked forward. He looked at Oxilon, expecting him to say something else, but he gave no indication he planned to.

"What about my friends?" Neelix said.

"We've determined they're not hostile," Oxilon said. "They've been treated for their injuries and asked to leave."

"They're aboard your shuttle, making repairs," Dexa said. "I'll take you to them."

"Well," Neelix said, "now that everything's been cleared up, maybe we could talk? Get to know each other a little?"

"If you'd like," Oxilon said, though he sounded to Neelix like he was just humoring him.

 _Probably figures the faster he gets me to talk the faster he can get me to leave,_ Neelix thought.

"My friends too?"

"No," Oxilon said.

"May I ask why not?"

"We've learned to keep to ourselves," Oxilon said.

"Oh. Well, if they're not welcome, I'm not staying either," Neelix said. "I had just hoped…"

"Hoped what?" Oxilon said.

"This may be my last chance to speak to any Talaxians before _Voyager_ reaches the Alpha Quadrant," Neelix said. "That's where my friends are from. Long story. I may not have left Talaxian space under the best of terms, but-"

"Were you a criminal?" Dexa said. Oxilon glared at her, and she sheepishly looked at the floor.

"No," Neelix said. "Well, my government certainly thinks I am, but I'd be lying if I said I cared."

Oxilon looked confused at that comment.

"I'm going to go see my friends," Neelix said, choosing not to elaborate. He felt put off in Oxilon's presence, like the man only tolerated being the same room as him because they were both Talaxians. Neelix knew that kind of attitude all too well; had seen it in his own home in the run-up to the war with the Haakonians. He'd heard it in Dexa's voice earlier that day, but had hoped that she was an outlier.

"Escort him," Oxilon said to Dexa, then unceremoniously turned and left.

"I apologize," Dexa said once the door closed. "I know he seems overly cautious, but we're not used to having visitors. Brax is young enough to have never seen a non-Talaxian before."

"I was curious about that," Neelix said. "Our ship picked up what looked like, at least from where we were, a perfectly livable M-Class planet on the opposite side of the field from us."

"That's the homeworld of the Badoon," Dexa said with a hint of contempt in her voice.

"Did they mistreat you?" Neelix said.

"Not directly, no," Dexa said. "It was more subtle than that. But I'd rather not talk about them right now."

"How many of you live here?" Neelix asked.

"Close to 500 here," Dexa said, "about a hundred each on the other two asteroids." She sighed. "And there are a dozen or so who chose to stay with the Badoon, but we don't talk of them much."

"From a ship that had 1300 people in stasis?" Neelix said. "The beacon said some of them were killed when the generation ship's computer went bad, but-"

"Few of the survivors had children," Dexa said. "Procreation has been placed on hold until we can hollow out another asteroid. None of the children you see running around were actually conceived here, though a few were born here."

"It must've taken years to build all of this," Neelix said.

"Almost five," Dexa said, pride in her voice. "We had to completely scrap _The Future_ , and, well, borrow some Badoon tools to get it done, but we did it. Mostly. There are some places that aren't at a hundred percent yet. If you look over there you can see our medical bay. My husband designed that."

"I'd like to meet him," Neelix said.

Dexas sighed. "He's dead."

"Oh," Neelix said. "I'm sorry. I… I suffered a loss recently myself, though yours is certainly-"

"I'm not… I don't feel like talking about it, right now. Your friends are just this way," Dexa said, leading Neelix down a neatly excavated cave.

Neelix saw the _Delta Flyer_. It looked pretty scraped up on the outside, but he imagined that Tom was going to save fixing the non-essential parts until they returned to _Voyager_.

The priority would be engines and life support.

He stepped inside.

"Neelix," Tom said. "Good to see you. They told me you were okay but wouldn't let us check in on you."

"Yeah, they seem to be really shy about aliens around here," Neelix said. "Dexa, this is Tom Paris. And this is Ayala."

"Given name or surname?" Dexa asked.

"I don't really talk about that," Ayala said.

Dexa looked confused for a moment but shrugged it off.

"Okay then," she said. "It was nice to meet you." She turned and exited the ship before anyone could reply.

"Guess that was as much politeness as she could muster for the day," Tom said,.

"So, what can I do to help?" Neelix said.

"Well, you can help me with this plasma manifold," Tom said. "How'd it go by the way?"

"I didn't exactly get a welcoming committee," Neelix said. "I was in a cell for most of the time I was recovering. I get the feeling their leader doesn't like me very much."

"You sound disappointed," Ayala said.

"Yeah," Neelix admitted. "I guess my expectations were a little high. I'd just assumed that since they were the descendants of people who left Talax before our society went bad they'd be more open minded. A shame really. This could be the last time I ever see another Talaxian, and they remind me so much of why I was so willing to leave them behind and travel with you in the first place."

"We'll probably be another night," Tom said. "I'm sure you can meet a few more before we go. Here's your phaser back by the way."

"Thanks," Neelix said. "And maybe you're right. Maybe I'll meet a Talaxian who's not as stiff and xenophobic as Oxilon. That would be a nice way to remember my people."

After another hour of work, the lights inside the _Flyer_ flickered back to life, and the consoles were active again.

"There we go," Tom said. "Now we just need to run a systems-"

"Intruder alert," the computer said.

"Well, at least we know internal sensors are working," Tom said, as Ayala pulled out his phaser and moved towards the rear compartment. Neelix followed him, hand near his own phaser.

The lights in the rear compartment were still out, so the two of them descended the steps slowly. Neelix took out his tricorder with his other hand and did a quick scan. He chuckled when he saw the lifesigns he were picking up from behind a panel were Talaxian.

"I think I can guess who this is," he said. "You can come out, Brax."

The child climbed out of his hiding place, and touched a button on a panel that turned the lights back on. Ayala lowered his phaser.

"Friend of yours?" he said.

"Dexa's son," Neelix said.

"You said you'd take me to see _Voyager_ ," Brax said.

"I said no such thing," Neelix said. "I told you she was a good ship, not that I'd bring you aboard. Besides, your mother wouldn't approve. Now come on, I'll walk you home."

Brax didn't argue, something Neelix was grateful for. He realized that child rearing was not really something he had that much experience in. He'd been spoiled in a sense, the only children he'd really been around as an adult were Naomi, who matured rapidly as a result of her mixed parentage, and Icheb, who had matured rapidly as a result of the Borg. He was ill equipped to deal with a tantrum if it were to come to that.

"Okay," Brax said.

"I'll be right back," Neelix said to Ayala. The two walked back the way Dexa had brought Neelix before. Before he could reach Dexa's home, however, he saw Oxilon arguing with an alien he didn't recognize.

"They're free to leave once their ship is repaired," Oxilon said.

"I'd like to confirm that for myself," the alien said. "I'm sure it is what their captain, Janeway, would do if she were here. Assuming you didn't try to blow up her ship with mining charges of course."

"How dare-"

"Excuse me," Neelix said, waving. "Hi. I'm Neelix, the Talaxian member of Janeway's crew. You've spoken with _Voyager_?"

The alien nodded. "Commander Nocona," he said. "You must be Neelix. Are the other members of your team harmed?"

"You know this… thug?" Oxilon said.

"Calm down," Neelix said. "Commander, may I ask why no one from my crew is here?"

"Our ship is better shielded against explosions from mining charges," Nocana said. "And with good reason," he added, glaring at Oxilon. "Captain Janeway agreed to let us come for you."

"Right," Oxilon said dismissively, "and I'm sure intimidating us with how thick your ship's armor is had nothing to do with it. You're trying to scare us into giving up the asteroids again."

Nocona groaned. "Believe what you want, Oxilon. My people own the rights to these minerals, and we will get them back. Without violence. You'll see."

"Well, Commander," Neelix said, "our shuttle is almost repaired. We'll be able to leave on our own in a few hours. Our communications array is still damaged, so perhaps you could tell Captain Janeway-"

"Yes, do so. Once you leave," Oxilon said, sounding like he was trying to make a threat.

"Very well," Nocona said. "Good day to you, Mister Neelix."

"Thank you," Neelix said.

Once Nocona was gone, Neelix was about to tell Brax to head on home when Oxilon rushed him with unexpected speed and shoved him against a wall.

"Why did that Badoon know who you were?!"

"You heard him," Neelix said. "He spoke to my captain."

"You expect me to believe that?" Oxilon said.

Neelix saw a crowd gathering. Some smiled, as if silently cheering on Oxilon or maybe hoping for a fight. Other just shook their heads, like disappointed parents.

"Yes, because it's true," Neelix said, finally shoving back. "He's a Badoon then? Seems nice enough. Why do you really have a problem with them? I get the feeling there's more going on than asteroid mining rights."

"Get out," Oxilon said. "Get back to your ship and leave us alone."

"I know that look," Neelix shouted at Oxilon's back as he walked away. "It's the look our leaders on Talax had on their faces when they argued for a war based on lies. Now, I don't know what's going on with you and the Badoon, but if I look into it, who's really going to be the bad guys here?"

"Go home," Oxilon said. "Go to your alien friends." There were murmurs among the crowd as Oxilon walked away. Neelix got the feeling that most, but not all of the people here were completely on Oxilon's side. He took a small amount of comfort in that.

* * *

"I think I can see why they're so suspicious of outsiders," Tom said when Neelix told him what had just happened. "Did the kid make it home safe at least?"

"Yeah," Neelix said, looking frustrated.

"It's good to know the Badoon were willing to help the Captain," Ayala said, "but we don't have the full context for what's been going on between them and the Talaxians here."

"I think we do, at least a little," Neelix said.

Tom was about to ask what Neelix meant, but the latter continued as if anticipating that question.

"Oxilon never actually denied what Nocona said was true. I think that except for a few stragglers, the survivors from the generation ship and their children and grandchildren settled these asteroid without permission from the race that holds the mining rights to them. It would be like if someone just walked into your quarters, set up a tent, and threatened you if you tried to kick them out."

"Plausible, sure," Tom said, "but there's decades worth of context we don't have, like Ayala said."

Neelix sighed.

"Yeah, you're right," he said.

Tom put a hand on Neelix's shoulder. "I'm sorry this trip didn't turn out like you hoped, Neelix. I really am."

"Thanks, Tom," Neelix said.

Tom was about to say it was time to go, when a noise from his console alerted him to someone standing just outside the entrance to the _Delta Flyer_. He checked his monitor, and saw Dexa, and a young boy, presumably Brax.

"Looks like you've got visitors, Neelix," Tom said. Neelix came over and looked at the monitor. He shrugged.

"Go ahead and let them in," he said.

"No problem," Tom said, pushing a button to open the door remotely.

When the two Talaxians made their way to the cockpit, Neelix asked them why they were there.

"Brax told me about what happened," Dexa said, "and I thought you deserved to hear our side of the story. Oxilon, he, can let his anger cloud his judgement sometimes, even though he's been a good leader for us overall."

"Okay," Neelix said. "I'm willing to listen."

"Actually," Dexa said, "I'd like to talk to your Captain, if I could. If your ship is as powerful as I imagine it based on what I've gleamed from scanning your shuttle-"

"Wait, you were scanning us?" Tom said.

"Of course," Dexa said. "Security precaution."

"It's what I would do," Ayala said.

"My point is," Dexa continued, "if your Captain is going to be working with the Badoon in any capacity, she deserves to know the truth."

Neelix didn't seem to like the idea very much, but rather than say no himself he turned to Tom.

 _Oh great, make the buck stop with me. Thanks, Neelix,_ he thought. Minus sarcasm he said aloud, "Well, okay, but I don't think there's going to be much need. I'm pretty sure that once she knows her team and the _Flyer_ are okay we'll just be moving on."

"Or maybe, once she hears about what we've gone through, she'll be willing to help us."

 _I doubt that,_ Tom thought.

"Okay," Tom said, "but I won't promise anything more than asking her to speak with you."

* * *

Captain Janeway looked up when Neelix and the Talaxian woman named Dexa walked into her ready room.

"Hello, Dexa," Janeway said, standing up and offering her hand. "Neelix told me you'd be coming. Where's your son?"

"He's playing with… what was her name?" Dexa said.

"Naomi Wildman," Neelix said. "With Samantha and Seven's permission of course."

"So strange," Dexa said, "to see a cyborg so well adjusted. Granted, we never had any real cyborgs on Talax, only ones in stories, but they were always cautionary tales. This Seven of Nine though seems like a perfectly normal humanoid."

"There still aren't any cyborgs on Talax," Neelix said, "but that's mainly because we don't really have that level of technology yet."

"Neelix says you have something you wanted to discuss with me about the Badoon?" Janeway said. Of course, this was all a polite formality. Neelix had warned her ahead of time that he had concerns that the Talaxians in the asteroid field were unnecessarily mistrusting of the Badoon.

Dexa went on to explain in great detail about what had happened to The Future, though Janeway already knew some of that from the beacon.

"When the Badoon found our ship, they brought us here, to their world. They set aside some farmland for us, but wouldn't interact with us for years. I was born under what they called 'quarantine.' But it was just an excuse, they didn't want outsiders mixing with their people."

"But," Neelix said, "you told me that a few Talaxians still live on the Badoon homeworld. Are they still in quarantine?"

"Well, no…"

"Dexa," Neelix continued, Janeway deciding it best not to interrupt. "You weren't born yet. Is it at all possible that it really was a quarantine? I mean, there are procedures for first contact with new species aboard this ship too."

Dexa looked hurt that Neelix would think that.

"My husband died on one of those farms," she said.

"Did the Badoon kill him?" Janeway said.

"No," Dexa said reflexively. Then paused. "I mean… it is their fault but…"

"Do you really think that," Neelix said, taking Dexa's hand in his, "or is that Oxilon talking?"

"Please," Janeway said, "Dexa, tell the rest of your story."

Dexa nodded. "It wasn't long before we realized there wasn't enough land to feed all of us, especially once babies started being born. Our leader at the time, Oxilon's uncle, told us we would just have to conserve resources."

"That doesn't sound very unreasonable," Janeway said. "Was any attempt made to negotiate with the Badoon for more land?"

Dexa looked down. "In the past, whenever children asked me about our time there I'd say no, but what Neelix just said… I don't know, truly. Many have said that we tried and failed, but some of the elders claim that we tried to take land from poorer Badoon citizens. I never believed it before, but why does it seem so plausible to me now?"

"I imagine meeting Neelix had something to do with it," Janeway said. "He's giving you a perspective you'd never considered before. Back on Earth we have a saying. 'A fresh pair of eyes.' It doesn't literally mean replacing your eyes of course, it means that sometimes getting input from someone who hasn't been directly involved with a thing long enough to form a bias can be very valuable."

Dexa nodded.

"Tell me more," Neelix said, "about what happened to your husband."

"He didn't like being told what to do by Badoon authorities, so he started farming outside the restricted zone. The owner of the land killed him."

"What happened to the landowner?" Dexa wiped a tear away from her eye.

"He was arrested," she said. "Oxilon liked to tell me that they only did it to save face, but now I wonder if that's true. The Badoon imprisoned him on grounds of unnecessary use of lethal force. I remember now, they told me that the landowner killed my husband after only one warning, and there was no sign my husband had used violence. I never thought to find out but…" Dexa stopped for a moment and looked up at the ceiling, "Yes, I think it's possible he's still in prison."

Neelix put a hand on Dexa's shoulder. Janeway stood up and walked around to do the same on the other shoulder.

"Oxilon is going to get you killed," Neelix said. "I've seen this happen before."

"What do you mean?" Dexa said.

"Years ago, when I was a young man, the Talaxian people launched a war against a people called the Haakonians. They'd done nothing to us, but the government spent months convincing the people they were an imminent threat. A few people like me saw through the lies though, and fled the system before we could be drafted to fight. Our people were ruthless. Killed civilians without any concern or remorse. Eventually, as an act of desperation, the Haakonians used a weapon of mass destruction on our colony on Rinax. The moon had been terraformed nearly a century after _The Future_ left, but our colony there is gone now. Including my family."

"And you aren't angry at the Haakonians?"

"I was, for a little while," Neelix admitted, "but in the end, that weapon would never have even been built let alone used if our aggression hadn't driven them to it."

"And you see that kind of aggression in Oxilon," Dexa said. It wasn't a question.

"I do," Neelix said.

Dexa cried, and Janeway felt for her. She had no idea what it felt like to grow up surrounded by xenophobia your whole life, but she had some experience with being lied to so she could empathize at least. She looked at Neelix.

"So, what now?"

"I don't know, Captain," Neelix said. "I'm really worried, like I said. But at the same time, what can I do? Oxilon seems so dead set on hating the Badoon for perceived injustices there's no way we could get him to come to a negotiating table."

"We can talk to him together," Dexa said. "He listens to me, sometimes. He helped take care of me and Brax when we came to the asteroid."

Neelix looked at Janeway.

"It's worth a shot," she said. She watched as Neelix and Dexa left her ready room together, and sighed. She wasn't completely sure, but she had a nagging feeling that when _Voyager_ left this region of space, they would be leaving without Neelix. And the possibility filled her with so many mixed emotions, she decided to forego her afternoon coffee and asked the replicator to give her tea instead.

* * *

"This is what Talaxian ships look like these days?" Dexa said as she and Brax climbed into Neelix's ship.

"On, no," Neelix said. "This one's older and smaller than most. Still, we've been through alot together. Some of those superficial scratches on the hull you might've seen on the way in? Some of those the old crate got without even having to leave _Voyager's_ shuttlebay."

Neelix continued his pre-flight check, glad he'd taken Tom's advice to keep in practice despite the fact he rarely left _Voyager_ with it, especially since they left the sector of the Delta Quadrant he'd known the best a mere three years into their journey.

"Why are we taking your ship to the asteroid?" Dexa asked.

"Lieutenant Ayala and Commander Tuvok convinced me that a ship with a Talaxian signature would be less likely to get mining charges blown up in it's face. Deliberately anyway. Plus, _Voyager's_ too far away to use transporters if I need to leave in a hurry."

"You think Oxilon will try to hurt you?" Brax said.

"It's possible," Neelix said. "Though I hope it won't come to that."

"Shuttle control to Neelix, you're cleared for launch," Harry Kim's voice said over the ship's comm.

"We're just about ready, Harry," Neelix said.

"Good luck," Harry said.

"Thanks," Neelix said. _I'll need it_ , he thought. He strapped in after helping Brax and Dexa do the same. The inertial dampeners were in excellent shape of course, but if there were any shockwaves or some other cause to do evasive maneuvers, best not to risk the child getting thrown around into walls.

The trip to the main asteroid was less dramatic than the _Delta Flyer's_ had been, much to Neelix's relief, but it had taken informing the Talaxian that Oxilon had left in charge of communications that he was returning two of his people to convince him to allow a landing.

When the three stepped off the ship, Oxilon and two armed men waited for them.

"I was ready to fear the worst," Oxilon said. "That you had kidnapped them. I am relieved to see I was wrong. Thank you for bringing them home. You can go now, Neelix."

"Not yet," Neelix said. "You and I need to have a conversation about your situation here in the asteroid field and the Badoon mining rights."

"What is there to say about it?" Oxilon said. "They had no people and only a smattering of probes to take samples here. It was open territory based on every space law I know of."

"I believe a peaceful solution can be found," Neelix said, "but it needs to happen now, before you antagonize them too much. There's no popular support on Badoon for just forcing you out right now, but I doubt that'll hold forever."

"We'll be more than ready to defend ourselves," Oxilon said. "We've got mining charges on rocks with low ore count, we can use them to force back any potential invasion."

"You can't be serious," Dexa said. "If we damage or worse destroy their ships, they'll bring a whole fleet to bear on us. Neelix was right, your ways are going to get us killed."

"Have the aliens been poisoning your mind, Dexa?" Oxilon said.

"No, that would be you," Dexa said. "Filling it with hate. The Badoon aren't perfect, they've done things they shouldn't, and I will never forgive the one who murdered my husband but we can't keep living like this. We can co-exist with them if we make a real effort."

"Nonsense," Oxilon said. "They're aliens. It's what aliens always do in the end."

"How would you know?" Neelix said. "How many other species besides the Badoon had you met before the _Delta Flyer_ crashed here?"

Oxilon was moved to silence by that. The guards looked even more furtive, one even lowering his weapon as he appeared to contemplate what was being said.

"The Badoon have traded with other worlds before," Oxilon said. "My uncle told me he'd sometimes see other aliens at the spaceports on Badoon. And he said they always looked at Talaxians like we were less than them."

"Maybe that's just how he interpreted it," Neelix said. "There's a race in the Federation, the government that _Voyager_ belongs to, called the Bolians. In their language, the word Frederick is a vulgarity. Among the most offensive words a native Bolian speaker could use. But to humans, the word Frederick is an uncommon but not rare name given to boys upon their birth. And yet, despite this, the humans and Bolians have gotten along for over a century. In fact, Bolians are one of the most common races to be found on Federation ships, apart from Humans, Vulcans, and Betazoids. How could your uncle, who had so little experience with aliens, automatically know what their facial expressions would mean, especially after only a few encounters?"

At some point during the conversation, a crowd had gathered. Quietly enough that Neelix had actually failed to notice while he was maintaining eye contact with Oxilon.

"Tell them about Rinax," Dexa said.

"Rinax?" Brax said.

"It was one of our moons," Dexa told Brax. "back from the system our ancestors came from before they ended up here."

"What's this about Rinax? What is she talking about?" Oxilon said.

Neelix told Oxilon, and the whole crowd, everything, including details he'd not shared with Dexa aboard _Voyager_. Some of the crowd looked shocked and horrified, though if it was at the war, or Neelix's refusal to fight he couldn't be certain. The angry ones though, them he was pretty sure resented Neelix for refusing to fight.

"That won't happen here," Oxilon said. "If the Badoon just let us keep this asteroid field, there need not be any bloodshed."

Some of the gathered crowd shouted at him.

"You had us set up mines!" one Talaxian yelled.

"You've been telling us the Badoon are savages for years but we've never seen them actually do anything!" another shouted.

Some other Talaxians began shouting back at the shouters, defending Oxilon, but as best Neelix could tell from the din they were the minority.

Oxilon was losing the crowd, Neelix could tell. He dared not push his luck though.

 _I didn't think it would be this easy,_ Neelix thought. _But I can't afford to tempt fate._

"Get off my asteroid!" Oxilon shouted at him, taking a gun from one of the guards standing next to him, causing gasps to ripple through the crowd.

"Leave him alone!" a Talaxian woman Neelix couldn't see yelled.

"Send him back to his alien friends!" a man shouted.

Brax tried to get in between Neelix and Oxilon, but Dexa grabbed him and struggled to hold him back. Neelix took a deep breath and walked forward.

He had not planned to say what he was about to say next, but the words came to him anyway. He hesitated to say them, knowing there was no walking back from it, and already feeling the guilt starting to well up at the thought of abandoning his crew of the past seven years, especially when they had not yet recovered from the loss of Commander Chakotay.

"No," he said to Oxilon, quietly hoping that the angry Talaxian in front of him wouldn't fire. "I'm staying. I'm staying, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure that what happened to Rinax doesn't happen here."

Oxilon snarled at him, so angry that he appeared to forget what kind of weapon he was holding and swung it at Neelix instead of trying to shoot him.

Neelix did not have the best rating with a hand phaser on _Voyager_ , even after having done some training with Tuvok, but he was good enough to pull it out and fire it at Oxilon, stunning him.

"He's not dead," Neelix shouted, holding up this phaser. "This weapon has a stun setting. He'll wake up shortly." The guards who had been flanking Oxilon seemed unsure what to do. Dexa walked up to them. Neelix had to admit to himself he found her confidence in that moment inspiring, and even a little attractive.

"Take him to his room," she said, pointing at Oxilon. "He is not under arrest, but don't let him have a weapon. I think we can still convince him to see reason, and if he does that will only make him a better leader." That last part was directed more at the crowd than the guards.

Eventually, the crowd cleared, leaving Neelix alone on the landing bay with Dexa and Brax.

"So," Dexa said, "now what?"

"Now," Neelix said, sadness in his voice, "I go and say goodbye to my friends."

* * *

There were times when Captain Janeway hated being right, and as she finished her personal log entry about her mixed emotions regarding Neelix's impending departure, this was one of those times. She'd seen this coming the moment Neelix told Dexa about Rinax and the Metreon Cascade, but a part of her had thought, or maybe hoped, that Neelix would stick around.

It was unsurprising that Naomi had, according to Samantha, been the one to take the news the hardest. She'd grown up with Neelix. He was her godfather after all, and up until the time when the little girl was mature enough to walk around the ship unsupervised and until Seven of Nine entered her life, she'd spent more time with him than anyone apart from her mother.

That didn't mean that anyone was happy to see him leave, though.

She heard the chime noise, and said "Enter."

She looked up, surprised to see Brian Sofin enter her ready room.

"Mister Sofin," she said, "I wasn't aware we had a meeting today."

"We didn't, Captain," he said. "In fact we haven't really spoken much beyond the odd 'good morning' since the last time I was on this deck, two years ago."

"When I stripped you of you rank, yes, I remember," Janeway said. "You've done a good job since then. I know I've failed to make that clear, but I'm really proud of how well all of you from the _Equinox_ , even Angelo Tassoni, have integrated into this crew."

"Thank you, Captain, but that's not why I'm here," Sofin said. "It's about Neelix."

Janeway nodded. "I'd heard the two of you had become good friends," she said. "But if you want me to try and talk him out of leaving…"

"No, Captain," Sofin said. "I mean, I'm requesting permission to stay as well."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"He told me what the situation on those asteroids is like, Captain, and it seems to me that if this Oxilon has as many supporters as Neelix thinks he does, and if they're angry enough…"

"You want to be Neelix's bodyguard," Janeway said, deducing where the young man was going with this. "I appreciate the thought, but what about your family in the Alpha Quadrant?"

Sofin looked down, the most ashamed he'd looked since after the _Equinox_ had been destroyed.

"I can't face them, Captain," Sofin said. "With what I did, what I was party too. My parents are pacifists to the core. They didn't even fight the Dominion. Not that they oppose self-defense mind you, just, well, I mean Mom's a fifth generation member of the diplomatic corp. Her great-grandfather was the first Federation ambassador to set foot on the Gorn homeworld. And Dad, Dad's a xenobiologist. He studied creatures like the ones we killed for fuel."

"You think they won't forgive you?"

"They already did," Sofin said. "I got letters from them through the Midas array. They say they understand I was in a difficult situation, and that I never actually killed one of the Ankari Spirit of Good Fortune directly but…"

Janeway was tempted to just reject the request outright, but looking at the man standing at attention before her, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Mostly because she realized she couldn't think of a good reason to.

"What do you want me to tell your parents?" she said.

"Tell them that I'm staying behind to help protect a friend," Sofin said. "And that I hope one day that I can reach a point where I can forgive myself for letting them down by agreeing to help Captain Ransom kill those creatures. Tell them that I'm looking for a second chance to be someone that Paul and Elisa Sofin can be proud to call their son."

Janeway smiled a sad smile.

"I think you already are, Brian," she said. "The ceremony for Neelix's departure is at 1300 hours tomorrow. It'll be in the shuttlebay, by Neelix's ship."

"Thank you, Captain," Brian Sofin said, smiling as he left.

Janeway sighed. "Shit, might as well update the log entry."

* * *

Seven of Nine, holding one of Naomi's hands while Samantha held the other, thought back on some of her experiences with Neelix. She found that, even when she thought about some of the more annoying ones, like him trying to get her to try foods she wasn't interested in, or his early attempts to convince her to go by her birth name, she was still going to miss him. Sam and Naomi seemed to be using all their strength to keep from crying. They'd known him longer than she had, so the reaction was not unexpected.

She looked at Icheb, who luckily seemed to be taking it better than most. He said he was going to miss hearing old Talaxian stories, but that he felt that what Neelix was doing was admirable enough to warrant celebration rather than sadness. Seven decided she'd explain it to him later.

The door to the shuttle bay opened, and Captain Janeway gave the order to stand at attention. Everyone did, even Naomi and Icheb. Not every crew member could fit in the shuttlebay of course, but as many as could fit were here for the send off. Janeway and Brian Sofin, whose announced departure had been as shocking to the crew as Neelix's, stood by Neelix's old ship. Neelix walked in, looking at everyone, saying goodbye to each crew member, a Starfleet issue duffel bag over his shoulders. Seven realized that without any warning, she was ready to cry too, and had to choke back a sob when, after shaking Marla Gilmore's hand and giving a Live Long and Prosper salute to Tuvok and Vorik, he walked up to Seven, Sam, and the kids.

"Good luck, Neelix," Sam said. Naomi grabbed Neelix in a big hug while Icheb shook his hand and offered him some tips on how to spot possible assassination attempts.

 _I'll have to find out how he knows that_ , Seven thought.

"You know," Neelix said, "I think the four of you are gonna be the ones I miss the most. It's been a pleasure to watch you become a family."

"Thank you," Seven said. "It has been a pleasure knowing you. Even the times when you could be… vexing, proved valuable to my learning how to be more human."

Sam, Naomi, and Neelix all laughed at that comment, and Seven smiled.

"Neelix," Captain Janeway said. "Before you go, I have one last gift for you." She motioned to Lieutenants Ayala and Anderson who lifted a crate and carried it onto Neelix's ship.

"What is it?" Neelix said.

Seven stepped forward. "It is a small version of the technology that allows this ship two-way communication with Starfleet," she said. "It is limited unfortunately. Much like our own communications prior to Project Watson, it'll only be usable every 31 days. However, it will allow you to contact us as well. And if we make it to the Alpha Quadrant sooner than projected by any means, be it new technology, or wormhole, or some other phenomena, we'll be able to let you know."

"That's amazing!" Neelix said. "Thank you so much, I don't even know where to start with how much I appreciate this."

Janeway stepped forward, and gave Neelix a hug. "Show your appreciation by saving this Talaxian colony from making the same mistakes your homeworld did. Show it by surviving. Show it by bringing the Talaxians and the Badoon together. That's an order, Mister," she added with a smile.

Neelix saluted the Captain. "I won't let you down, Captain."

Neelix turned around and looked at the gathered crew. "Goodbye, my friends."

He waved at everyone, and turned and climbed into his ship, Brian Sofin walking in with his own duffel bag on his shoulders. Ayala and Anderson exited and retook their places in the procession. Everyone stepped back as the ship's engines powered up and began to move towards the open shuttle bay door. They all watched quietly as it passed through the force field out into the stars.

Seven leaned against Samantha, who kissed her on the the cheek. "I'm sure he'll be fine, Annie. They both will."

"I agree," Seven said.

"I'm surprised Jaffen wasn't here," Seven overheard Tom say.

"He didn't know Neelix that well," Janeway said, shrugging. "At least that was his excuse. I get the feeling he's not a fan of farewell ceremonies. Which is fair. Plenty of people don't like goodbyes."

Seven tuned out the rest of the conversation and she and her family left the shuttlebay.

"Mom?" Naomi said.

"Yes, sweetie?" Sam said.

"Could you and Seven tuck me in and tell me a bedtime story tonight?"

"I thought you were too mature for those now," Sam said, repeating words that Naomi had used over a year ago back to her.

"I know, but…" Naomi didn't finish the sentence, looking embarrassed. Sam hugged her, and looked at Seven. "Neelix used to do that for her almost every night when she was real little, before you and I got together."

"I see," Seven said. "Well, in that case, I see no reason not to to do it tonight." She looked at Icheb while Sam and Naomi headed towards their quarters. "Icheb, before we do any of that, we need to have a talk about how you know so much about assassination attempts."

"Well, there's this holonovel that Mister Paris invited me to play with him last week…"

Seven sighed. "Dare I hope this one was age appropriate?"

"Lieutenant Paris does still regret that previous incident," Icheb said.

 **Chapter Eleven**

Seven of Nine hummed to herself while she did her routine diagnostics in the astrometrics lab. Everything was working fine of course, as it usually did, but she would not let pride in her work get in the way of her work. Just as she was wrapping, the noise associated with the detection of something new on long range scanners got her attention.

As advanced as the sensors were, some things just didn't show up at certain distances. Given the distance according to the data, this thing was far enough away that for it to have registered now meant it had to be huge, easily larger than a Borg cube, but putting out far less energy or she'd have seen it sooner. She could only get a rough silhouette of the object, which was at the center of a field of debris, possibly that of another ship, and residing inside a Mutara-class nebula.

She forwarded the data up to Lieutenant Kim's console on the bridge. If Captain Janeway decided this was something worth exploring, she and the bridge crew could take it from there. Seven finished her work in the lab, and immediately made her way to her quarters, where she and her wife Samantha would make plans for the latter's upcoming birthday.

Along the way though, she stopped.

 _Wait_ , she thought, her mind going back to the rough silhouette of the presumably derelict ship. _Why do I feel like I've seen that somewhere before?_

* * *

On the bridge, Harry gave the data Seven had sent him from astrometrics a once over before forwarding it to Janeway. He hoped Janeway would give the order to investigate, though he couldn't quite place his finger on why. The details on the ship were minimal given the distance. Even _Voyager's_ Borg enhanced sensors could only do so much. Even so, something about it seemed familiar, like he'd seen that silhouette in images before. Perhaps if it had been something he'd seen personally it would be stronger in his memory.

* * *

 _I've seen that design somewhere before_ , Janeway thought as she reviewed the data Harry Kim had forwarded to her. _For some reason it makes me think of the Deltan homeworld, but their ships never looked that, did they?_

"Mister Paris," she said, "adjust course to take us closer to this nebula. Just close enough to get a better look at that ship."

"Yes, Captain," Tom said.

"Active or passive scan, Captain?" Harry said.

"Passive," Janeway said. "I hate to admit it, but I can't put my finger on why that thing makes me nervous."

She saw Tom look down at his console, only to shudder. "You aren't alone, Captain. I'm getting a bad sense of deja vu here."

"Fascinating," Commander Tuvok said. "I also must admit to some trepidation about getting so close to this derelict vessel, despite being certain I have never seen anything quite like it before."

"Didn't Seven of Nine say she would get feelings like this while doing her research on the Borg degradation?" Lieutenant Ayala said.

"Yeah, I think she did," Janeway said. "Ayala, take us to Yellow Alert. Tom, once we know exactly what that ship is, get us back on our original course, maximum warp."

"Captain," Tom said, "might I suggest we just do that anyway?"

"I'd be lying if I said I'm not considering it," Janeway admitted. "But I'm also curious as to why this thing seems so damn familiar."

"Understood," Tom said.

It took barely an hour for _Voyager_ to get close enough to get a more detailed scan of the derelict. It was definitely dead, no apparent signs of any sensor activity from it, passive or active. The viewscreen changed from a view of the stars outside the ship to a silhouette of the vessel as the long range sensor's real-time update began to fill in the details. Once the detail reached a certain point however, the bridge somehow managed to fall more silent than it had already been. Janeway thought she even heard the general background noises of the ship fade away, as impossible as that should've been while everything was still clearly working.

She stood up, and forced herself to walk closer, as if somehow seeing it closer would make it not true. She saw in her peripheral vision that Tom's hand was shaking. But it was true. She had seen one of these ships before, though only from second hand sensor data from a joint attack on the Deltan homeworld done alongside the Borg, years ago.

 _How could I have forgotten?_ she thought. _How did we all manage to forget?_

"That's a Cyberman ship," she said. "That's not possible."

"Do I get us the hell out of here now, ma'am?" Tom said.

"No," Janeway said, surprising even herself. "I want to make sure that thing is as dead as it looks. If it is, we can go about our business. If not, we need to warn Starfleet as soon as the next communication window is open."

* * *

Seven of Nine nearly knocked over several crewmembers as she bolted towards the bridge. She had no doubt that everyone on the bridge, unless they'd happened to be nowhere near any information sources during the short-lived Borg/Cybermen alliance, would recognize that ship. If so, they were going to need her expertise.

"Whoa, hey, Seven, where's the fire?" she heard someone say. She turned, but walked backwards as she did so, so as to keep getting closer to the turbolift. She saw the visibly concerned face of Noah Lessing.

"I remember everything now," Seven said, breathing heavily from her run. "I know why the Borg are dying, but right now I need to make sure we get out of this nebula alive."

* * *

"No lifesigns," Harry said, "and a sizeable hull breach on the opposite side of the hull from us according to scans."

"I'm skeptical that the entire crew of this ship got blown out through that hole," Janeway said. "I doubt the Cybermen could be smart enough to manipulate the Borg into an alliance and get away with betraying them, only to not have precautions in place to prevent something like that. Humanity figured out how to prevent that kind of disaster before we even sent manned vessel outside our solar system."

"No sign of activity of any kind on the part of the ship," Ayala said. "No sign that weapons are powering up, their warp drive, or whatever they use for FTL, is powered down. I think we're looking at a dead ship."

No one said anything, but the tension on the bridge melted away so fast Harry could swear he actually felt it. His own body felt considerably less tense.

"I suppose this means we can move on now," Tom said.

"No," Janeway said, smiling. "I think this means we can go home now."

"What?" Tom said.

 _I agree,_ Harry thought. _What is she talking about? And is she smiling like a school kid?_

"Think about it," Janeway said. "What do you remember about the attack on Delta IV now that our memories are restored?"

"Not much," Tom said. "I was still in the academy. I remember being terrified the Borg were coming for Earth again."

"The latest memory I have of that specific period," Tuvok said, "was the Borg and Cyberman fleets both disappearing, and hearing my commanding officer at the time say that the _Enterprise-D_ had ignored orders and begun pursuing them."

"Yes, but also," Janeway said, standing up, "that the enemy fleet was headed for the Delta Quadrant."

"How did you know that?" Harry asked.

"I was acting Captain of the _Al-Bitani_ at the time," Janeway said. "Owen Paris had just been promoted, and his replacement was waylaid because of the attacks. Before the combined Borg and Cyberman fleets left though, the _Enterprise_ informed us about a key Cyberman weakness. Gold."

"Gold?" Tom said, sounding like he didn't believe that could possibly be true.

"We were under orders to go to any planets within less than a few day's warp that had known gold deposits. We did, but the time we'd gathered the material, it was over. Captain Picard sent a fleetwide report that the Cybermen had been defeated. The report included log data from the _Enterprise_. The Cybermen had advanced engines that had put them halfway from Federation space to Borg space in a matter of days."

"And if the engine of the Cyberman vessel is intact," Tuvok said, "it is possible we could use it, much as we have done in the past with other experimental types of engines, to return to the Alpha Quadrant in exponentially less time than we are currently facing."

"With all due respect, Captain," Tom said, smiling "You probably should've led with that last part."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at that, and surprisingly, Captain Janeway laughed too. Harry struggled to remember the last time he'd head her laugh.

"Yeah, you're probably right, Tom. Commander Tuvok, assemble an away team. Just to be safe of course, modify the phaser rifles. We actually do have some non-synthetic gold in the cargo bay. And to think, I only took it from the traders we met last week to be nice."

The turbolift door opened and Seven of Nine burst out, her breathing labored.

"Cybermen," she said, "the ship we… why does everyone look happy?"

Harry, who was the closest to Seven, took a step to the side and patted her on the shoulder.

"The ship's a derelict," he said. "But we think we can use it to get home."

"Oh," Seven said. She looked around the bridge. "I suppose it would be too much to ask that we never discuss my rather abrupt entrance ever again? It was… mildly embarrassing."

"Yep," Tom said.

* * *

Seven had wanted to go with the away team that was heading over to the Cyberman vessel, but Captain Janeway had assured her that there would be plenty of opportunities later and that Tuvok's team's only job was to assure that the ship was truly dead, and to restore the vessel's life support if possible.

"What we need to do in the meantime," Janeway said, "is compare notes. I imagine that your Borg memories of the Cybermen will have more details than what we have."

"I believe so, yes," Seven said. "Though that knowledge may also be corrupted."

"How so?"

"I would need to have access to that ship's memory banks if possible to confirm it, Captain, but I'm convinced that the Borg Degradation theory I've spoken of before is tied into the Collective's alliance with and betrayal by the Cybermen."

Janeway did not seem surprised, which was a surprise in itself to Seven.

"That makes a lot of sense," Janeway said. "If the Cybermen intended to stab the Borg in the back, they'd want to make sure the Collective was in no condition to retaliate."

"What I'd like to know," Harry Kim said, "is how come we had no memory of what the Cybermen had done in the Alpha Quadrant until we saw that ship."

"That wasn't the Cybermen themselves," Seven said. "It was the time traveler who allied himself with Captain Picard. His real name is unknown but he goes by The Doctor and is native to the universe the Cyberman originate from."

Janeway smiled. "I see I was right in assuming you had more knowledge than we did. Prepare a data packet. As soon as Tuvok gets back we'll have a senior staff meeting. We need to know as much about this ship as possible if we're going to safely use it for our purposes."

"I'll get on that right away, Captain," Seven said.

* * *

The Borg Queen had convinced herself she left the visible damage on the side of the Class-4 cube she currently occupied so that when she finally caught up _Voyager_ , they would know that the Queen had personally been the one responsible for their destruction.

This was illogical. Revenge was a concern for organics. Symbolism was a concern for organics. But the Borg Queen's state as the degradation accelerated had grown to the point where she no longer even noticed that the Collective had separated itself from her cube. It was common practice when a cube showed signs of an infection that could harm the Collective.

It had happened once before, with a Borg that had been corrupted by humans who had named it Hugh. Hugh's cube was severed from the Collective, denied perfection, it and the rest of its cube's drones left adrift, their fate not known until new knowledge was obtained from Starfleet on the second failed attempt to assimilate Earth.

It was all too late for the Collective, but neither they nor the Queen knew that. What she was aware of now was that the decline of the Borg was happening. It was taking longer to adapt and to regenerate. Reaction times had slowed.

The Borg Queen was certain that Captain Janeway knew it as well, and had taken advantage of it to escape this cube one human year prior. This alone, the Queen convinced herself, was why even though she'd been tracking _Voyager_ ever since her Captain had planted the virus that had kept her from destroying Unimatrix Zero, they had not moved in to attack them. The cube had briefly lost track of _Voyager_ some months ago, near a planet called Quarra according to the crew of the small freighter they had assimilated, but they had found the Starfleet vessel once again.

The Borg Queen's physical form nearly collapsed as the rush of once-lost information returned to her all at once. On the viewscreen in her alcove, grainy due to distance and interference from the nebula, was a ship of a design that the Collective had paradoxically forgotten and assumed would never see again.

"They did this," she said aloud, the drones around her ignoring her verbal outburst. "It's all so clear now. The Cybermen infected us. That is why we have been suffering these past several years. And now Captain Janeway has access to the source of this insult to our quest for perfection. We must approach this cautiously. We are but one cube, and a damaged one at that. There is no other vessel close enough."

There were. The Borg Queen simply could no longer hear them. She did not know it, but the end of the Borg Collective as it had once been was coming.

* * *

"To avoid confusion," The Doctor said from his seat in the briefing room, "I believe we should refer to the time-travelling alien who aided Captain Picard by his real name, seeing as I also am called 'The Doctor,'"

"I would," Seven of Nine said, understanding where The Doctor was coming from even though she was able to keep the two men separate in her mind easily, "except that name is unknown to anyone apart from The Doctor — the time-traveller, himself."

"You said his species name was Gallifreyan," Captain Janeway said. "Let's just call him that."

"Why would his real name be a secret, anyway?" Tom Paris said.

"Also unknown," Seven said. "One theory is that his species only believe in sharing their given names with loved ones, such as blood relatives, spouses, children, etc. Another theory the Cybermen had was that it's a matter of simplicity. It was never confirmed, but some sources they, well, assimilated for want of a better phrase suggest that a Gallifreyan's name gets a new syllable added to it after any major event, such a wedding, a death in the family, a regeneration…"

"We're getting sidetracked here," Janeway said. "Back to the alliance with the Borg. How did it happen, why did the Cybermen betray the Borg, and how did this ship, out of all the ones the Cybermen sent to our reality, end up still being here."

Seven of Nine summed it up as best she could, realizing that not every point was relevant, no matter how interesting she found it.

"...thus after The Doc-, the Gallifreyan succeeded in defeating the Cybermen, their entire fleet was destroyed. The Borg were able to remotely activate every single ship's self-destruct mechanism. Shortly afterwards, the Conduit attempted to assimilate the Gallifreyan's ship, but was stopped by the ship itself, acting through Commander Data. Once the Cybermen were destroyed, our universe began to revert back to what we would consider normal, with our memories of events altered."

"None of which explains why this particular Cyberman ship is still here," Janeway said.

"Or what happened to all the Cybermen on the ship," Joe Carey said, sitting where B'Elanna normally would. "All we found were parts, but there's no way that every single one of them could've been blown through that hull breach."

"I have a theory on that," Harry said, touching a few button on his PADD, bringing up detailed information on the sector of space they were in on the monitor. "Using astrometrics data, Seven and I determined that there had been a subspace sandbar in this nebula. It wasn't stationary, like the one we were caught in a few years ago, but based on its observed trajectory, the Cyberman vessel would've been caught in it."

"I believe once I've had a chance to look at the ship's databanks I can answer these question," Seven said. "I would like permission to join the next away mission."

"I was going to send you anyway," Janeway said. "Carey, prep Vorik and Gilmore on what you learned about their engines while you were over there with Tuvok. They're in charge of seeing if we use their technology to upgrade our own engines."

"If we can't?" Carey said.

Janeway sighed, and Seven suspected she knew what was coming next.

"Well, that ship is more than large enough to hold all of us, plus our belongings," she said. "Hell, we could even fit our shuttles in there."

"Captain," Seven said, pulling up a schematic of the Cyberman vessel, and placing it side-by-side with an image of _Voyager_. "I believe we may not need to attempt to integrate the technologies at all. As you can see here, _Voyager_ is small enough to fit in between the two circular protrusions that make up the middle and rear-most sections of the ship."

"That could work," Tom said. "We could use magnetic clamps to affix the ship's landing struts to the Cyberman ship's hull. And putting it right there," he pointed at the monitor, "would protect _Voyager_ if there were any sort of subspace or gravimetric shear to worry about."

"I think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here," Janeway said, but Seven was convinced it was a viable plan. Certainly the fastest as well, as even if Cyberman technology could safely be integrated into _Voyager's_ , something she was skeptical about for security reasons, it would most likely take longer to perform the upgrades than it would to simply attach _Voyager_ to the hull, send over a small team to man the Cybership's controls, and-

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sounds of Tom Paris and The Doctors' comm badges chirping simultaneously.

"Tom! Doctor, I need you in sickbay!" B'Elanna yelled.

"What's wrong?" Tom said.

"It's time!" B'Elanna said. "Get your asses down here now, because there is no way in hell I am doing this by myself!"

"You better go," a smiling Janeway said. "And congratulations," she added as Tom and The Doctor both bolted to the door. Once they were gone, Harry looked around the room.

"At the risk of sounding like an ass," he said, "are we going to wait until after the baby's out to continue with the plan, or do we do it while we're waiting?"

"It's a fair question to ask, Lieutenant Kim," Janeway said, standing up, "but I think we'll wait until we've had a chance to say hello to our newest resident. Dismissed."

* * *

Marla Gilmore walked into the Cyberman engine room, Vorik close behind her. Lydia Anderson waited outside, holding her phaser rifle so tight Marla was afraid she might break it.

 _Considering what we know about the Cybermen and what they're capable of,_ she thought, _I don't suppose I can blame her._

She went over to the nearby console to begin the process of powering up the ship's engines. As they began to operate, more lights came on in the room, allowing her a better look at the Cyberman's faster-than-light drive.

She gasped.

"Is there a problem Miss Gilmore?" Vorik said.

"Vorik? I think I'm in love," Marla said, smiling like the proverbial child in a candy store.

Vorik's eyebrow raised, but he didn't make any comments about humans and their ability to form emotional attachments to inanimate objects like many Vulcans did. Marla figured he was probably just used to it at this point.

"It is certainly an impressive feat of engineering," he said instead.

The sound of footsteps coming from behind them drew Marla's attention, but the lack of phaser fire let her know that it was probably someone from _Voyager_ , if not Lydia herself. She turned to see Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine enter.

"At ease Marla, I just wanted to get a look at… at…" Janeway's jaw dropped as she looked up at the full extent of the Cyberman engine. Even Seven of Nine looked visibly awed.

"Oh, you are beautiful."

"Miss Gilmore," Seven said, "if you would be so kind as to direct me to the memory core. I was told it wasn't on the bridge."

"Yeah, Cybermen don't design their ships quite like any other race I've ever encountered," Marla said. "The databanks are this way."

"Thank you," Seven said. "On an unrelated note, I thought you might like to know that Lieutenant Torres went into labor an hour ago."

Marla smiled. "Remind me to give my congrats when we get back to _Voyager_ ," she said. "How's it going?"

"I do not know the details," Seven said. "The Doctor will inform us once the process has completed."

"Man, what a day," Marla said. "We might get to go home 30 years early, and a new baby-"

Tuvok's voice came out of everyone's comm badge, cutting off Marla's comment.

"Tuvok to away team. Long range sensors have detected a Borg cube entering the nebula. They will be in weapons range in approximately two minutes. Prepare for transport."

"Wait," Captain Janeway said. "Anderson, are any of this ship's weapon's operational?"

"The main weapon is, yes," Anderson replied. "But it can only fire in one direction. The Borg cube would need to be within 15 degrees of the front end of this ship."

"Get to the control center and get the shields, or whatever the Cyberman equivalent is, up," Janeway said. "Gilmore, Vorik, get this ship maneuverable. Seven-"

Marla heard the sound and shouted for everyone to get to cover. Several Borg drones transported right into the heart of the Cybership's engineering sector. Everyone had their phasers out, except for Marla who didn't have one. She felt someone grab her, and looked to see Seven pulling her behind a console.

"Seven," Marla said, pointing at a nearby metal arm that wasn't attached to any body. "Lydia said the weapon on the hand is still operational and warned me not to touch it."

"Got it," Seven said, leaping towards the arm.

* * *

"Commander," Ayala said, "the Borg cube has started transporting drones over to the Cyberman ship."

Tuvok, sitting in the command chair, looked at the viewscreen.

"Lieutenant Kim," he said, "enhance the image of the cube."

"Sir?"

"I have a hypothesis," Tuvok said. "Do it."

The image on the screen zoomed into the approaching cube

"I'll be damned," Harry said. "A Class-4 cube."

"Not just any Class-4 cube, Mister Kim," Tuvok said. "Look at the location of the unrepaired scorch marks on the outer hull. That is the same cube we boarded during the Unimatrix Zero mission."

"Seven's Borg Degradation theory looks to be accurate. That was a year ago and that cube still hasn't fully repaired?"

"Ensign Brooks," Tuvok said, "begin combat maneuvers. Mister Ayala, target the damaged areas of the cube and fire at will."

"Aye, sir," Ayala said.

 _If I am right_ , Tuvok thought, _we can provide sufficient distraction for the away team to activate and use the Cyberman weapons. That should even the odds in this battle, if not turn them in our favor._

* * *

Janeway, Anderson, and Vorik made quick work of the first wave of drones. The second wave, the same number of drones as before transported in, and only three fell, the other two shrugging off the phaser blasts..

"They've adapted," Janeway shouted. "Adjust frequencies."

"Captain," Vorik said, "I believe it is worth noting that it took two drones more than it usually does for them to adapt."

"Noted," Janeway said as she tapped the buttons on her phaser. Before she could finish however, a loud noise filled the Cybership's engineering, and she looked up to see the two drones cut down by a volley of weapons fire she didn't recognize. She turned towards it's source, and saw Seven of Nine holding the arm of a dead Cyberman like a weapon.  
Seven raised an eyebrow.

"Impressive," she said.

"To put it mildly," Janeway said. "We need to get to the control center before the cube sends any more drones."

"The fact that no more have been sent already suggests the cube is planning to change tactics," Seven said.

"Tuvok to away team, are you alright?"

Janeway tapped her comm badge to reply.

"So far," she said. "Status report."

"We have engaged the cube," Tuvok said. "We have determined it is the same Class-4 cube we encountered last year."

"Are you sure?" Janeway said, surprised at what she was hearing.

"Certain," Tuvok replied. The damage caused by the core we overloaded remains largely unrepaired."

"The Collective is in worse shape than I assumed," Seven of Nine said.

* * *

The Borg Queen largely ignored the weapons fire coming from _Voyager,_ only firing back occasionally. A small amount of damage had been done to the armor plating, but it was nothing that couldn't be repaired easily once this was over. She focused on scanning the two vessels her cube was approaching, looking for two people in particular whom she wanted to speak to personally.

"Scans have confirmed the individuals designated Captain Kathryn Janeway and Seven of Nine are on board the Cyberman vessel," the Collective's voice said, and the Borg Queen smiled.

"Prepare a transporter lock,' she said.

"Alert. Primary Cyberman weapon powering up."

"This is not a concern. Our armor is more than adeqeute to…" The Queen stopped talking for two reasons. First, she realized that she sounded to herself less like the voice of the Borg and more like a leader; an individual. Second, she wondered why she was so unconcerned about the potential damage a Cyberman ship could do to her cube when she remembered all too well how many cubes she'd lost to the Cybermen when they'd betrayed their alliance.

Her eyes widened. She gave the cube the order to begin evasive maneuvers.

It was too late.

* * *

"Main gun is on-line," Anderson said.

"I have a targeting lock," Seven said.

Janeway leaned against the Cyberman ship's equivalent of a captain's chair, somewhat disappointed that it was far too large for her to sit in comfortably, but she didn't need to be sitting to give her next order.

"Fire."

* * *

Harry Kim couldn't resist the urge to cheer as the viewscreen showed the weapons fire from the Cyberman vessel cut through the Borg cube's armored plating, causing massive explosions all over it.

"Mister Kim," Tuvok said, "Damage report."

"The cube got lucky," Harry said. "A lot of the shots they took at us missed wildly, but that last one they got in hurt our shields, and knocked our forward phaser banks off-line. It's repairable, but will take a full damage control team several minutes."

"Good thing they've stopped firing," Ayala said. "That blast from the Cyberman ship hurt them pretty bad. I'm picking up no signs of active weapons anywhere on that cube. Hull breaches all over the place, at least one of the armor plates is just gone."

"Lieutenant," Tuvok said, looking at Ayala. "Prepare a full spread of photon torpedoes, and target the cube's eng-"

"Anderson to _Voyager_! The Borg have the Captain and Seven!" Lydia Anderson's voice shouted over the comm.

Harry gulped.

"Mister Kim, can you get a transporter lock on them?" Tuvok asked.

"Negative, sir," Harry said, looking at one of the monitors on his console. "Some kind of interference field was put up just a second ago. That must be where the Captain and Seven are. It's crude, we can beam through it, but not out of it."

"Mister Ayala, prepare an extraction team," Tuvok said. "Mister Kim, attempt to open a comm channel to the Captain."

* * *

Seven looked around at the corridors of the Borg cube. It was a mess to put it mildly. The few drones that were still mobile seemed overwhelmed by the sheer amount of repairs.

"Looks like we hurt them even worse than we thought," Captain Janeway said. Seven hadn't realized at first that the Captain had been beamed over with her, but she shook off the surprise quickly, checking to see that the Cyberman arm blaster she'd been holding still worked.

"I would've assumed the Queen would've transported us straight to her alcove," Seven said.

"I wonder why she grabbed us instead of sending over more drones," Janeway said.

Seven gestured at the state of the corridor. "Probably didn't have enough to spare."

"Tuvok to Janeway," a garbled but still mostly audible voice came over Janeway's comm badge. "Lieutenant Anderson told us what happened. Are you alright?"

"So far," Janeway said. One drone, it's exposed organic parts showing signs of severe burns that would've had a human in too much pain to walk, approached them, assimilation tubules waving about menacingly.

"Come," it said, its voice garbled.

"The Borg Queen," Seven said. "She must be here."

"This may sound crazy," Janeway said, "but I get the feeling her royal pain in the ass is going to try to bargain her way out of this. That would explain why we weren't assimilated right away."

"That is just one possibility," Seven said. "She may try to get us to surrender."

"Yeah, well, good luck with that. Tuvok, keep a lock on our signal, but don't beam us out until I either give the signal, or our lifesigns fluctuate wildly."

"Understood, Captain," Tuvok's voice said.

"Lead on," Janeway said to the drone, who, limping, turned around and headed down the corridor. Shrugging, Janeway followed it, Seven close behind.

When the two entered the room the drone led them to, clearly where the Queen had set up her central alcove aboard this cube, they knew why they hadn't been beamed there right away. Even now, drones were clearing the floor.

"Captain Janeway. Seven of Nine," The Borg Queen said, stepping out of her alcove and moving close enough so they could hear her over the sounds of repairs. Seven, glancing around for signs of traps saw, several meters above them, the cube's vinculum. One of its supports was clearly broken, and one of the others looked little better. The last was stable, or so it appeared. _One well placed explosion…_

"It would seem we are at an impasse," the Queen said. "My weapons are badly damaged. But so are _Voyager's_ and those of your captured Cyberman vessel. I admit, I had not expected that you simple-minded organics would learn to operate their superior technology so quickly. Shame you were only able to get one attack volley off before I was able to disable the main guns."

"'I'?" Janeway said, smirking. "When did this start?"

The Queen looked confused for a moment, then shook her head. "We."

"It's getting worse, isn't it?" Janeway said. "The Degradation. You're starting to lose control over the Collective, aren't you."

"Impossible," the Queen said, defensively. "I am the Borg. We are Borg. This Cyberman virus has weakened us greatly, yes, but we will rebuild."

 _Well, that confirms that theory_ , Seven thought.

The Queen stepped forward in an effort to look threatening. With her gaze focused on Janeway, Seven allowed herself to risk raising the Cyberman weapon slightly, focusing on where she'd need to fire. Now if the Queen could just take one more step forward…

"I will take that Cyberman vessel from you, Captain," the Queen said, smiling now. "With it, we can cure this plague that has weakened our intelligence, our strength, made us a pale shadow of what we once were. And once that is done, we will begin anew our quest for perfection, bringing it to others in this galaxy."

"Whether they want it or not, of course," Janeway said. "What makes you think you can just take the Cyberman ship from us though? If you could've, Seven and I wouldn't be here. You'd be over there. Or on _Voyager_. Or both. I think you're trying to bluff me into surrender. Just goes to show how much that computer virus from another universe has rotted your brain."

"We are Borg!" the Queen shouted angrily, taking the last step forward Seven needed, but now she was looking as much at her as at Janeway. Seven would only get one chance. She began doing the math in her head one more time. She was certain she already had the right firing solution, but for a shot this important, not just to her, or her family, or her crewmates, but possibly to the entire galaxy…

"We have lost many of our voices, but they will be replaced. A newer, stronger Collective will rise. The Cybermen failed. You failed. And your crew will be the first of my new drones. But not you yourselves, no. You, Captain Kathryn Janeway, and you, Seven of Nine, will be the last act I take as the emotional, petty, being the Cyberman virus left me. As my last bit of spite before I return to being what I was always meant to be, a creature of logic, a part of a hive mind, will be this; I will decorate my central alcove with your bones!"

"Yeah," Seven said, "Fuck you too." She fired, hitting the one vinculum support, shattering it. The other, already damaged, snapped almost immediately from the weight. The Borg Queen moved to get out of the way of the heavy Borg device, but just as Seven had predicted, the Queen was unfamiliar enough with the concept of survival instinct, not having needed it for so long when she could just go to another body when the one she was in was destroyed, that she ended up stepping in just right the right place for the sharp bottom of the vinculum to pierce her skull. She didn't even have time to scream. The drones however, they screamed, and fell over, and twitched violently.

"We should probably go now," Janeway said, taking Seven's arm.

"No doubt," Seven said.

"Janeway to Tuvok, get us the hell out of here."

* * *

Janeway looked around, wondering why Harry had beamed her and Seven directly to the bridge, but she wasn't going to complain.

"Lieutenant Ayala, prepare a full torpedo spread," she said. "Janeway to Anderson."

"Anderson here. Glad to hear you're alright, Captain."

"I'm back on _Voyager_. Target the Borg cube and prepare another round. We're going to finish this."

"With pleasure, ma'am," Anderson replied.

Janeway straightened her uniform, took her seat in the Captain's chair, and looked at the damaged Borg cube on the viewscreen.

"Anderson, Ayala… fire."

The two vessels, one Starfleet, one Cyberman, cut loose on the Borg cube, tearing it apart within seconds.

"Their warp core's about to go critical," Harry Kim said.

"Back us off," Janeway said. "Janeway to away team, can you get that ship moving?"

"Somewhat," Marla Gilmore's voice replied.

"You've got…" she looked at Harry.

"Five seconds," Harry said.

"Damn it," Janeway said. "Hang on!"

The cube exploded, the shockwave spreading out in all directions. _Voyager_ shuddered violently as it hit, but even as she gripped the arms of her chair, she could see on the screen that, amazingly, the Cyberman ship held, knocked back, but not showing any signs of damage.

 _That doesn't mean the people inside weren't hurt though,_ Janeway thought. _Especially if they weren't secured_.

"Away team to _Voyager_ ," Lydia Anderson's voice said over the comm, causing Janeway to openly breathe a sigh of relief. "We're alive. A little rattled, but alive."

"Good to hear, Lieutenant," Janeway said. "Good to hear."

"Sickbay to the Bridge," The Doctor's voice said.

"Go ahead," Janeway said.

"Is it safe to assume that the fighting is over?"

"That's correct."

"Good," The Doctor said. "Then now's the perfect time to announce that one Miral Paris has joined our crew, happy and healthy with her parents."

Cheers filled the bridge, coming from Ayala, Brooks at the helm, and Harry Kim.

Janeway smiled, and even felt tears of joy well up in her eyes.

"This really has been an interesting day," she said. "Give the parents my congratulations."

* * *

"When can we see the baby?" Naomi asked, practically bouncing with excitement.

Seven just laughed, while Sam patted Naomi on the head.

"When B'Elanna and Tom say we can, sweetie," she said.

"I am relieved the process went well," icheb said. "It's my understanding that the birth process, which is already difficult for many, is even more so for mixed species births."

Sam winced, remembering Naomi's birth and the unusual circumstances surrounding it.

"Yes, I'm aware," she said aloud. "It's hard to believe it's almost over. After seven years, this could be our last day in the Delta Quadrant."

"That's not entirely accurate," Seven said. "As fast as the Cyberman engines appear to be, it will still take us approximately six days to return to the Alpha Quadrant. Add an additional day if we choose to go straight to the Sol system as opposed to a deep space Federation colony."

"Well, still," Sam said, "as happy as I am, it's hard to not to have mixed emotions about this. It's the end of an era for us, really."

"Understandable," Icheb said. "I admit to having concerns of my own. I've never lived anywhere else than the Delta Quadrant."

"Same here," Naomi said, "but we'll be okay. You'll get to join Starfleet, and I'll get to meet my Dad."

"He's going to be happy to meet you too," Sam said.

"Seven," Icheb said, "is the Captain planning to hold some sort of ceremony to mark the end of _Voyager's_ time in the Delta Quadrant?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Seven said, looking at Sam. Sam didn't believe there were any such plans either, so she nodded her agreement.

"Why do you ask?" she said.

"In my lessons with The Doctor last week he spoke of a concept called catharsis," Icheb said. "I believe that some catharsis for the crew prior to leaving the Delta Quadrant could possibly make it easier for them to readjust, or adjust in the case of myself, Naomi, Mister Jaffen, and Seven of Nine, to life in the Alpha Quadrant."

Sam smiled, while Seven put down her PADD to give the boy a hug.

"That is an excellent idea, Icheb," Seven said. "I agree with your assessment."

Icheb smiled, and even blushed a little. "Thank you. Would either of you be willing to help me present the idea to the Captain?"

"I'll do it," Sam said. "Annie's going to be on the Cyberman ship soon."

"Oh, hey," Naomi said, "I was thinking when we get to Earth we could get a pet."

"Oh?" Sam said, wondering where this was coming from. Naomi hadn't said anything about wanting a pet for years.

"I'm thinking a bunny," Naomi said.

Sam tilted her head, and saw that Seven raised an eyebrow.

"Why a bunny?" Sam asked.

"Well," Naomi said, "bunnies are usually prey animals, right? But a pet rabbit on a starship wouldn't have any predators. It could be relaxed all the time."

"Interesting," Icheb said, "I had never thought to consider the bunny perspective before."

* * *

Tom Paris leaned against the doorway to the bedroom of their quarters and watched as B'Elanna gently placed the sleeping Miral into her crib.

"I'm amazed she went down so easy," Tom whispered. "Especially after all the excitement we just had."

"Enjoy it while it lasts," B'Elanna whispered back. "Most nights are not gonna be this quiet."

"Well, luckily most of those nights are going to be back home," Tom said.

"Especially with you at the helm," B'Elanna said.

Tom sighed, hoping they weren't going to have this discussion again. "I'm a new father," he said. "Brooks can handle the Cyberman ship. Seven confirmed from the Cybership's databanks we won't run into anyone hostile on the trip home, not with the course with we've plotted. A few populated star systems might get a bit of a scare as we pass through, but we won't be around long enough for them to shoot at us. And any anomalies along the way, we'll be able to go around. Sue can do it."

"I'm sure she can," B'Elanna said. "But the fact is you're a better pilot than her, and I do not want to take any chances when it comes to getting our daughter home safe. Talk to the Captain. Convince her to let you be on the team that operates the Cyberman ship."

Tom wanted to argue this point, as he had before, but he knew he'd only be repeating points he'd made several times before in the past two days.

 _Time to graciously admit defeat_ , he thought. "I'll talk to her at the 'Farewell, Delta Quadrant' party," he said.

* * *

The cargo bays with their modular walls were the only place where all one-hundred twenty plus crewmembers could be gathered comfortably. It lacked the view of the stars that the mess hall had, but Captain Janeway wanted everyone gathered for this event; _Voyager's_ final day in the Delta Quadrant. And after all, right now the stars wouldn't be visible in the mess hall viewports anyway, instead being filled with the gases of the nebula and the cold metal hull of the Cyberman ship that _Voyager_ was now attached to.

For most of the gathering things had been light. The crew laughed, and shared memories of the more amusing or bizarre events they'd encountered since the destruction of the Caretaker's array and the merging of the Starfleet and Maquis crews. Static images of some of these events, taken from the ship's logs and sensor records had been arranged on the walls like paintings, based on a suggestion made by Icheb.

It was inevitable she supposed, though, that someone would bring up some of the tougher moments they'd faced; the hardships, and losses. When that happened, Janeway tapped her glass of champagne, and quickly the rest of the crew turned to look at her while Jaffen placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Before we start our final mission here in the Delta Quadrant," she said, "let us take a moment to remember those of us who didn't make it to this day. It's in their memories that we undertake this last journey, using the ship the Cybermen left behind and its engines to finally see our homes again. I say their names aloud so that, if they can hear us somehow, they know that we have not forgotten them and that their sacrifice was not for nothing."

Janeway cleared her throat. "For Aaron Cavit, Veronica Stadi, T'Prena, Doctor Jeffrey Fitzgerald, Mitchell Fayed, Aka-Na-Tak, Bobby Androjnik, Kopor the Climber, Stockbridge, Thomas Merlin, Nihlus Kryik, Peter Durst, …"

Janeway's voice began to crack, frustrating her immensely. She hadn't even gotten to the end of _Voyager's_ first full year, and already the names became harder and harder to get out. Tuvok moved over to stand by her, and without missing a beat picked up where Janeway had left off, starting with Kurt Bendera. Janeway was not surprised that Tuvok had decided to include Lon Suder's name. He was a murderer, but even still in the end he had died saving the ship, making it possible to retake it from the Kazon. If any of the rest of the crew found his inclusion controversial no one said anything. By the time Tuvok made it to Commander Chakotay's name, the cargo bay was all but silent, the only sounds being made by a handful of crewmembers and Naomi Wildman sniffling, all seeming to be trying as hard to hold back tears as Janeway herself was.

"To absent friends," Janeway said, taking a sip from her glass. Those who held drinks followed suit. Jaffen whose hand had never left her shoulder squeezed it gently.

"That was beautiful," he said quietly, his own eyes seeming to be tearing up when Janeway turned to look at him. "I've been on ships that lost people before. I wish they'd gotten a send off as touching as that."

"It would be better if I didn't have to give a send off at all," Janeway said, she and Jaffen moving off to the side as normal conversation amongst the rest of the crew resumed.

"Space travel can be dangerous even under ideal circumstances," Jaffen said. "And you haven't had ideal circumstances for seven years now. Yes, you've lost people. But most of the sentients under your command are going home today, and they have you to thank for that."

Janeway allowed herself a small smile. "I can't take all the credit," she said. "A captain's only as good as their crew. Without these other people here, I would never have made it past the Ocompa homeworld, if that far."

"Sure," Jaffen said, "but that goes both ways. You needed them, and they needed you."

"Yeah," Janeway said, sighing. "That's going to make it that much harder when we get home."

"What do you mean?"

"I intend to step down when we get back to Earth. Maybe take on a teaching job at the Academy, maybe just retire to Indiana."

Jaffen briefly laughed, then covered his mouth apologetically. "I'm sorry, Kathy. But really, if I know you as well as I think I do, you'll go crazy inside of a week if you do that."

Janeway shook her head. "I'm just so tired, Jaffen."

"So take a break," Jaffen said. "I don't know how vacation time works in Starfleet, but if it carries over you've probably got more time coming than I've ever had at every job I've held combined. At least that way, if you decide you want to get back out to the stars, it's easier to come back from sabbatical than from retirement."

Janeway smiled, remembering the stories of how many times the crew of the first _Enterprise_ under James Kirk had 'retired.' "You'd be surprised, actually."

"At least think about it," Jaffen said.

"Okay, okay, you've convinced me," Janeway said. "I'll wait until we're actually on Earth before I decide between retirement or just a long vacation."

"I look forward to seeing it," Jaffen said. "In person I mean. I know that holovids can only do so much. And speaking of looking forward to things, I hear you've chosen to lead the skeleton crew that will be piloting the Cyberman ship for the last day."

"You heard right," Janeway said. "The _Voyager_ rumor mill does get things correct from time to time."

"I want to be there with you," Jaffen said. "I-"

"Okay."

Jaffen stopped talking, looking surprised, and Janeway couldn't help but laugh.

"You thought I was going to argue with you on that, didn't you?"

"Well, to be honest, yes," Jaffen admitted.

Janeway kissed him on the cheek. "I can't think of anyone I'd rather have at my side when we reach Earth."

"And I look forward to seeing the look on your face when you see Earth," Jaffen said.

* * *

The away team stepped onto the transporter pad, excluding Tom Paris, Marla Gilmore, and Vorik who had already returned to the Cyberman ship to for the final leg of the journey home.

Janeway held Jaffen's hand in hers and watched quietly while Seven hugged Samantha Wildman, and Megan Delaney tried to reassure her twin sister Jenny that everything we going to be fine.

"Just remember," Jenny said, "if you get killed, I'm telling Mom."

Megan laughed, as she stepped onto the pad.

"I'll be fine," she said. "Don't worry, sis."

"I love you," Seven said to Sam.

"Love you too," Sam said.

"Are we all ready?" Janeway said.

Everyone on the away team nodded, silently, except for Lydia Anderson who saluted before saying, "Ready to go, Captain."

"Very well," Janeway said. "Mister Mulcahey? Energize."

* * *

Harry Kim yawned at his console.

"Mister Kim," Tuvok said, "if you require additional rest, I am more than willing to provide it."

"I appreciate the thought, Commander," Harry said, "but there was no way I was going to miss this shift. Based on the calculations we did before shift change, we'll be entering Federation space within a few hours, and Earth a few hours after that."

Tuvok raised an eyebrow. "Very well, but I will relieve you of duty if I feel that your reaction times are clouded by lack of sleep."

"I got plenty of sleep yesterday, sir," Harry said.

Tuvok was skeptical, but he also knew better than to underestimate human resilience. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time Lieutenant Kim had pulled a double, or even a triple shift.

"Very well," Tuvok said. "Ensign Brooks, alert the crew when we are about to enter Sector 001."

"Aye, sir," Sue Brooks said from her seat at the navigation console.

* * *

The man from the other universe, the enemy of the Cybermen known as The Doctor has had many qualifiers attached to his name. Among these are terms such as "magnificent bastard," and "chessmaster."

The Doctor couldn't think of any way that any Cybermen would be left behind in the universe of the Federation and the Borg, but regardless he left something in place just in case. The Earth of this place was not his Earth, his adopted home, but he felt obligated to protect it nonetheless.

The device was not hidden, but because of its origin no Starfleet officer or Federation civilian who stumbled across it in Sector 001 would think twice about it, leaving it be, unexamined. That would be true even at this moment, when for the first time since The Doctor had returned to his reality the device activated. It detected Cyberman activity approaching. The device began to power up in order to perform its designated task.

* * *

"We're approaching the outer edge of Sector 001," Megan Delaney said, looking at her jury-rigged console set up in the Cybership's control center.

"How long? Janeway said, stretching. She hated the chair that had been set up for her, but decided not to just request a new one be sent over from _Voyager_.

"Approximately thirty minutes ahead of schedule," Megan said.

"Thirty less minutes I have to wait to see my family," Tom said. "Including my Dad."

"I imagine Starfleet Command will want to debrief us before allowing us to see our loved ones," Seven said.

"Oh, I doubt that," Janeway said. "That would make Command look bad. They'll probably give us at least a day."

"I'm more worried about the civilians," Lydia Anderson said. "Didn't Reg Barclay say we're celebrities these days? We're going to get swarmed by autograph seekers and excited schoolchildren."

"You might," Marla Gilmore said. "If I'm lucky they'll let me visit my nephew before putting me up before a tribunal."

"That was always a possibility," Vorik said. "However, given the contributions you and most of your fellow survivors from the _Equinox_ have made-"

The ship shuddered.

"I'm reading an energy spike," Megan Delaney said.

"I see it, but I can't get a fix on its location," Seven said.

"What's happening?" Jaffen said, looking like he wanted to do something, anything, to help but at a loss as to what.

"We're being pulled towards it, whatever it is," Tom said. "I'm putting everything I can into propulsion but-" The ship shuddered again, more violently this time, throwing nearly everyone to the ground.

"Janeway to _Voyager_!"

* * *

"Captain," Tuvok said, responding to the hail, "a spatial rift has opened near our location. It opened as soon as we entered the solar system."

"Detach _Voyager_ and get clear," Janeway said, "then beam us out." The final part of her order was understandable, but the signal had started to weaken.

"Understood," Tuvok replied. "Ensign Brooks?"

"Already on it," Brooks said.

 _Voyager_ suddenly stopped shaking.

"Commander," Harry said, "whatever the rift is, it stopped pulling at us once we detached from the hull of the Cyberman ship."

"Is it still pulling the Cyberman vessel towards it?"

"Aye, sir," Harry said.

"Bridge to transporter room 1," Tuvok said, "the away team requires an emergency beam out."

"Yes, sir," Todd Mulcahey's voice replied.

The bridge was silent. Tuvok touched a button on the arm console and the viewscreen switched to show the Cyberman vessel, struggling as it was pulled towards the rift in space that seemed to only effect it.

"Mister Mulcahey?" Tuvok said.

"I'm trying, sir, but I'm having trouble getting a solid lock."

"Janeway to _Voyager_ ," the captain's voice said over the comm, still understandable but far more garbled. "Now would be a good-" Static. "Can you hear me _Voy_ -"

"Oh no," Tuvok heard Brooks yell as the Cyberman ship, turned violently and went engines first into the rift. There was a brief flash of light, and then the ship was gone.

"Bridge to transporter room 1," Tuvok said. "Did you retrieve the away team?"

"I'm- I'm sorry sir, I was only able to get a solid fix on two of them."

"Who did you retrieve?" Tuvok asked.

"Seven of Nine and Megan Delaney, sir."

Tuvok heard Sue Brooks sob quietly, and saw both Lieutenant Ayala and Lieutenant Kim staring in disbelief at the viewscreen. He sat down quietly. His logic failed him as he tried to find something to say to the crew.

* * *

Harry Kim looked at the console, the computer registering the names of the Starfleet ships approaching them. He focused on the names and classes far more than he really needed to, not wanting to dwell on what he had just seen, afraid that the Cyberman ship had not just been yanked back to its universe of origin but possibly destroyed with both his captain and his best friend aboard.

The _Galaxy_ -class ship _Allegheny_ , the _Prometheus_ -class _Palmyra_ , the _Nebula_ -class _Sutherland_ , the _Defiant_ -class _Wolverine_ , and the one that he knew Samantha Wildman would've been happiest to see if she were on the bridge, her father's ship, the _Excelsior_ -class _John Laurens_.

Because he was focusing on his console he saw the light that signalled that one of the ships, the _Allegheny_ according to the signal, was hailing _Voyager_. He told Tuvok.

"On screen," Tuvok said.

A Quyth appeared on screen, his single eye a mixture of pink and yellow. The other captain was probably concerned that this wasn't really Voyager but was part of some elaborate trick. If his memories had been triggered by seeing the Cyberman ship the way _Voyager's_ crew had been, Harry couldn't blame him.

"This is Captain Hokor the Hook-Chest of the U.S.S. _Allegheny_ to _Voyager_ ," he said. "Is that really you?"

"This is Commander Tuvok," Tuvok said, "it is… good to be home, Captain Hokor. We should be transmitting our IFF signal as we speak."

"We're picking it up on our end," Hokor said, "but Starfleet's a bit more paranoid than it used to be. I'm sure you understand. We'll be escorting you back to Earth, where hopefully the necessary security measure to confirm your identities will go quickly and you and your crew can take all the time you need to see your loved ones."

Hokor's eye blinked, and the color in it swirled and became partially translucent.

"Commander," Hokor said, "that other vessel, the one that was pulled into the rift we saw on our long range sensors, I recognized it even though I'm sure I never saw it before."

"A Cyberman vessel," Tuvok said. "That will require some explanation that can be handled in our debriefing."

"Cybermen," Hokor said, shaking his head nervously. "Now I remember. I was still a Lieutenant when they attacked Delta IV. Glad it's gone. I'm curious how your ship came to be attached to the side of one of their vessels."

Harry winced involuntarily at that comment.

"We found it derelict in the Delta Quadrant," Tuvok said. "We were able to use its advanced engines to return to the Alpha Quadrant within days. A skeleton crew was on the Cyberman vessel while the rest of us remained aboard _Voyager_."

"I hope you were able to get all of your-" Hokor stopped, the color in his eye changing again. "Commander, where is Captain Janeway?"

Tuvok made a noise that Harry could swear sounded like a sigh, the closest to sadness the Vulcan had ever shown under circumstances outside illness or alien influence.

"I regret to inform you, Captain Hokor, that Captain Janeway, four other crewmembers, and a civilian were all still aboard the Cyberman vessel when it was pulled into the rift. We have no cause to believe they were killed in the process, but if they are alive I hypothesize that they are currently in the other reality, the one of the Cybermen's origin. At this time, neither they nor we have the means by which to return them."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Hokor said. "I'm sure Starfleet will put their best people on trying to find a way to bring them home.

"Captain Janeway found a way home once," Tuvok said. "It is logical to assume she can do so again."

* * *

Samantha was so relieved to see Seven of Nine enter their quarters that it took her longer than she cared to admit to see that Seven was crying.

"Annie? What happened?"

"You- you don't know?"

"No, I've been here the whole time. I heard we made it home, and there was the shaking but…"

"Something happened," Seven said. "Megan and I were beamed off in time, but, the ship, the other ship…"

 _Oh no_ , Samantha thought. Seven collapsed into her arms.

"They're trapped in the other universe, the one where the Cyberman ship came from."

Samantha was about to ask who, but then she remembered who all had been on the other ship when they'd entered Federation space, and gasped.

 _Tom, Marla, Lydia, Jaffen, Vorik, the Captain,_ she thought.

"It's not fair," Seven said, "We were so close. This isn't like falling down just short of the finish line, this is like getting shot at the finish line."

Samantha just held onto her wife tightly, stroking her hair and whispering calming noise,. It was all she could to keep from breaking down in tears herself. Samantha felt two other pairs arms embrace her and Seven. She had forgotten that Naomi and Icheb were there too.

The four of them just held each other for a long time, no one sure what, if anything, to say next.

 **Chapter Twelve**

Janeway struggled to her feet, still feeling dazed from when she and the others had all slammed against the wall. She was grateful that the Cyberman ship's inertial dampeners, or whatever their equivalent was, hadn't failed or she and the others would be so much splattered mess. She looked around. Tom had already gotten up and was frantically trying to hail _Voyager_ , even though he had to know it was no use. Vorik was helping Gilmore to her feet, while Lydia Anderson was checking the back of Jaffen's head for injuries.

"Report," she said.

"We're near Earth," Tom sad, sounding dejected. "Just not our Earth."

"Can we contact them?" she asked. A part of her hoped that perhaps the Earth of this reality, the one where the Cybermen had originated, would have something they could use to re-open the rift just long enough to get home. At least the fact that _Voyager_ hadn't replied when Tom tried to contact them meant that, presumably, the rest of her crew had made it home.

Tom glared at the image of the planet on the main monitor.

"No," he said. "I was able to tap into the satellite network. The Earth of this universe is still in the early 21st century, though unlike us they didn't have a Eugenics War. This Earth is more advanced in their 2014 than we were in ours, but not enough to do any good. They don't even seem to have noticed us yet near as I can tell."

Tears began forming in Tom's eyes. He punched the navigation console. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

Janeway wished she had the words to help Tom, but she just didn't. He had every right to be upset after all. Being separated from people you loved by over seventy thousand light years was one thing, but now there was an entire universe and hundreds of years separating him from his wife and newborn daughter, a child he'd spent mere days with.  
She looked back at the others. She could see sadness beginning to take hold over Anderson and Gilmore already. Jaffen seemed fine, if a bit dizzy. Vorik was as implacably Vulcan as usual.

 _Will we forget them too?_ she thought. _Like we forgot about the Cybermen when they came to our universe? Or is it different for us now that we're in their realm?_

"So. What do we do now, Kathy?" Jaffen said.

Janeway took a deep breath. She felt deep down like what she was about to say was a lie, but she needed to say something to give her people hope. Her crew, anyway. Jaffen would be happy wherever they were so long as he was with her. That was something she was glad for at least.

"The barrier between our worlds has been breached more than once," she said. "It can be done again. I don't know how long it will take, but we will find a way. I've gotten my people home before, I can do it again. Hell, if we're lucky, it won't take us seven years this time." She added a smile to that last line, surprising herself at how genuine it felt. This speech was as much for her as it was for the others.

"There is a man here, a time traveller, who helped Captain Picard and the crew of the _Enterprise_ defeat the Borg/Cyberman alliance ten years ago," she said, though Tom and Jaffen already knew that part. "If we can find him, I imagine he could get us home to our universe."

"How do we find him though?" Marla Gilmore said.

"She's right," Tom said, slumped in his chair. "You heard what Seven said about him. He goes all over time and space, seemingly at random, in a ship smaller than one of our class 2 shuttles."

Janeway thought about it for a moment. Tom was right about that, but she remembered something else from that briefing; about the kind of man the time traveller was. Everyone looked at her, patiently waiting for what she would say next.

"We make an impression," she said. "Vorik, Gilmore, let's get this ship in the best shape we can. Tom, go over this ship's records. I want to know where the major hubs for information and trade are in this universe."

"Ma'am?" Tom said.

"It's simple. We fix this ship up, we go around looking for sentients in need, and we help them," Janeway said, now feeling genuinely hopeful instead of just trying to project it. This plan she was formulating had so many ways it could go wrong, but it was the best she had.

 _Besides_ , she thought, _is this really that much more difficult than some of the crap we went through in our own reality?_

Vorik raised an eyebrow. "With all due respect, I fail to see how that helps us return to our reality, Captain."

"This time traveller," Janeway said, "this man who simply calls himself The Doctor, has been an enemy of the Cybermen for centuries. Sooner or later, word is going to get to him about a ship belonging to one of his oldest and most dangerous enemies going around doing good in the galaxy."

"And if I were in his place," Anderson said, "that sure as hell would get my attention."

"Exactly," Janeway said.

Jaffen walked over to Janeway and casually put an arm around her waist.

"I gotta say," he said, smiling, "I like this plan."

"Can't hurt to try, I suppose," Tom said, sighing.

Janeway looked up at the monitor. It was almost eerie how the Earth here looked just like the one she called home. She wondered for a moment if maybe it would be so bad to settle here if The Doctor never came.

 _No_ , she thought. _I'm not ready to give up yet. Either we get to go back to our home, or we die here as heroes._

* * *

B'Elanna Torres cradled her daughter in her arms as she looked at the picture of Tom on the table in Admiral Paris' home. Physical pictures weren't the norm amongst the people of the Federation anymore, not with digital photo frames that could easily hold hundreds, even thousands of pictures instead of just one having been available to humanity even in the time before Zefram Cochrane's first warp flight. The practice had never gone away completely though, and with the fear that the _Voyager_ crewmembers who were trapped on the Cyberman ship when it got pulled through the rift would be forgotten an ever-present reality, they went from a mere act of sentimentality to a necessity. The new project that Admiral Paris, Reg Barclay, Lewis Zimmerman, and others had started on Jupiter Station required physical copies of photos of the lost crew, any information they had on them written down on real paper. The computer records of them were not lost completely, but were spotty, incomplete, and easy to miss unless you knew what to look for. Or even that there was something to look for.

"Thank you for letting me stay here, Admiral," B'Elanna said.

"Please," the Admiral said. "No need to be so formal. I'm off-duty, and you're my daughter-in-law. Call me Owen. Besides, you don't exactly have a place of your own right now."

"That's certainly true," B'Elanna said. "I don't even have a ship anymore."

Owen Paris sighed. "You heard about that, huh?"

"I figured R&D would want a look at all that Delta Quadrant tech we brought back with us," B'Elanna said, shifting on the couch slowly so as not to jostle the baby too much. "I don't understand why they had to hide _Voyager_ away though."

"That was Nechayev's idea," Owen said, sighing. "She has this idea in her head that the new technologies inside _Voyager_ would be a prime target for the Federation's enemies. She's not one hundred percent wrong, I'm sure the Romulans would love to have a look at that slipstream drive, even if it is burned out. But Elena is, well, Elena. Just keeping _Voyager_ in the Sol system isn't secure enough for her, she has to move it to one of her," Owen groaned before completing the sentence. "Black Sites as she calls them. I don't know if she doesn't know the history behind that phrase or just doesn't care."

B'Elanna nodded. "I knew that there was a chance, even with the pardon, that I might not get to serve on _Voyager_ again, but that doesn't make the mental image of a bunch of Intelligence types pawing at her warp drive any easier to stomach."

"With your credentials, record, and reputation," Owen said, "I don't doubt that once your maternity leave is up that you'll be in anything less than high demand. There are a lot of captains in Starfleet who would kill to have an engineer with your skills on their team."

"I don't know," B'Elanna said. "I might just try to join the team at Jupiter trying to figure out how to get Tom back from the other universe. If I didn't have Miral, I'd be feeling so helpless right now."

"I can see about that," Owen said, surprising B'Elanna who just assumed that he would be against it, perhaps arguing that she was too close, too emotionally invested. "Fact is, having people there who have more cause to care than anyone about the people we lost in that rift is probably the best way to ensure that they aren't forgotten. If my own science training wasn't a few years out of date since becoming an Admiral I'd be there myself."

"Maybe we'll go to Jupiter together then," B'Elanna said. "It would certainly make it easier for you to spend time with your granddaughter."

"Speaking of," Owen said, motioning towards Miral, "May I? I haven't actually had the chance to hold her since you got to San Francisco."

"Of course," B'Elanna said.

* * *

Harry Kim stood outside the airlock to the U.S.S. _Delaware_ , reluctant to go inside. He reached into his pocket and fiddled once again with the folded up paper photo he had of his best friend, what was his name? The one who was in another universe now, or something like that. Why was it so hard for him to remember the name of his own best friend?

"You understand, Lieutenant," Lieutenant Ayala said coming up behind him "that the ship can't take off from starbase with you standing in the connector."

"Right, sorry," Harry said. "I guess it just doesn't entirely feel real. I guess I just assumed I'd be going back to _Voyager_ once I returned to duty."

"I did too," Ayala said. "But I guess R&D had other plans. The jerks."

Harry chuckled. "Yeah. Jerks." He took a deep breath. "Okay, Let's do this. At least I'll have somebody from the old crew here. That should make it easier to adjust."

"More than one somebody," Ayala said. "Didn't you hear? Todd Mulcahey and Susan Brooks got assigned to the _Delaware_ as well."

"I didn't know that actually," Harry said. "I'll make sure to say hello after I report to the Captain." The two men made their way through the open airlock onto the _Nova_ -class ship. Harry had to admit it was a bit odd being on one of this class again, considering his last experience with one was the _Equinox_ , but he didn't want to dwell on it. He felt something in his pocket, not sure how it got there, but he figured he'd take it out later, once the _Delaware_ was out of the Sol system.

He went through the open airlock first, Ayala close behind. The two quickly made their way to the nearest turbolift and rode it to the bridge, only to find it almost unoccupied. The only person there was a short haired red-headed human woman. Only when she turned around and Harry saw the four pips on her collar did he realize that this was his new commanding officer, Captain Kilkenny.

"Ah," she said, smiling. "Lieutenant Kim. Lieutenant Ayala. You're early. I would've arranged for you to meet the rest of the senior staff if I'd known. Welcome aboard."

"Captain," Harry said, standing at attention. "I look forward to serving with you."

"And I look forward to hearing some of your war stories," the Captain said, practically radiating enthusiasm. "I mean, you two served aboard _Voyager_. You're practically legends, and here I am, the one who's going to be giving you orders."

Harry blushed. He looked over at Ayala, impressed at the man's ability to maintain his composure. Harry turned back to face the Captain, but something behind him caught his eye, something sitting on one of the arms of the captain's chair.

 _Is that a plush cat?_ He thought.

The Captain realized he was looking at something behind her and turned around.

"Oh, I see you've spotted Desmond," she said.

"Desmond?" Ayala said.

"My kitty," Captain Kilkenny said casually, as though it should've been painfully obvious to him and Harry. "He's been with me since my first assignment; the _Kilimanjaro_." She sighed. "She probably would've been my first command if we hadn't lost her to a Dominion sneak attack during the war. Could've been worse though. Out of 900 crew members 893 made it out alive.

"But enough about old war wounds," she said, her smile suddenly coming back. "Command has cleared us for departure at 0900 hours." She checked the PADD in her hand.

"Both of your quarters are on Deck 3. Feel free to get some rest before we head out."

"Aye, sir," Harry said.

"Aye, Captain," Ayala said.

* * *

"A pleasure to finally meet you in person, Doctor," Bruce Maddox said, extending his hand to The Doctor.

"Likewise, Commander," The Doctor said, accepting the handshake offer politely.

"I was sorry to hear about what Starfleet Command decided to do with _Voyager_ ," Maddox said. "Any plans, since you're losing your sickbay?"

The Doctor looked around, his gaze falling on the Golden Gate Bridge off in the distance.

"Not really. I have been offered a teaching position at Starfleet Medical," he said. "I may take it, but not this semester. Some of my _Voyager_ crewmates have invited me to meet their families. I think they feel they owe me since I treated them during our time together, as if I ever would've not. I imagine their spouses, children, and what not wish to thank me for making sure their loved ones made it home. I appreciate the sentiment, but because of it I can't help but think about all the people on _Voyager_ I couldn't save."

"I don't think you need me to tell you even the best doctors Starfleet has can't save everyone," Maddox said.

"I'm well aware of that," The Doctor, "but it doesn't make it any easier to accept."

Maddox nodded, and turned to look at the bridge as well. "I imagine that seeing the faces of your crewmates' families might help. It won't make the guilt go away, unless you decide to remove it from your program. But if Commander Data can learn to live with the downsides of having emotions, I doubt you will have any problems."

"I suppose you're right," The Doctor said. "In that case I probably should go then. My first invitation just for today is meet with Lieutenant Carey and his family. Perhaps I'll see you some other time."

"I wouldn't mind that," Maddox said. "I can read the _Voyager_ logs anytime I like, but hearing about it from someone who was there is an experience no report can properly convey. If possible, I can even arrange for you and Data to meet. He's mentioned that he finds your story inspiring."

The Doctor smiled. "I would very much love to meet with him. I'll get in touch once I know I have some time to spare, and we'll see what we can do."

* * *

Seven of Nine pulled her robe tight around her as the air grew colder. She looked at the night sky on the Ktarian homeworld and was amazed at how many stars you could see, even this close to a major metropolitan area. She watched as off in the distance at the spaceport the ship that had brought her and her family here, the Starfleet passenger courier _Lois McKendrick_ , took off.

Naomi was on the other side of the city, spending time with her father and his parents. Icheb had, mere months after arriving in the Alpha Quadrant, earned early entry into Starfleet Academy. Samantha had fallen asleep on a small couch in the room they were sharing while they were here, until their leave was over. Or so she'd thought until she heard Sam walk up to her. She didn't turn to look as Sam slipped her arms around Seven's waist and rested her chin on Seven's shoulder.

"Trouble sleeping?" Sam said.

"Not tired yet," Seven said. "Just... thinking."

"Still hoping we'll see them again?"

Seven didn't need to ask to which 'them' Sam was referring.

"The barrier between the universes has been breached before," she said. "At least twice, and that's just what I know of. Who's to say-"

"It's okay, babe," Sam said. "I think we'll see them again too. If I know Captain Janeway as well as I think I do, she's probably already got a plan in motion."

Seven chuckled. "Probably an ill-advised plan with a low probability of success."

"Yeah, well, those have worked out for her pretty well so far," Sam said before kissing the back of Seven's neck. "Now, if you aren't going to come to bed, at least close the balcony doors. Ktarian cold winds can sneak up on you. And don't forget we're meeting my sister tomorrow."

"Okay," Seven said, watching Sam as she went back inside. Seven turned and looked up at the stars one last time before doing so herself. Even if her crewmates never did return from the other universe, even if they hadn't survived the breach, she would make sure that they wouldn't be forgotten.

~The End~

Dedicated to my Dad, an OG Trekkie, for introducing me to Roddenberry's vision.

My biggest regret was that he didn't get to see how this story ended.


End file.
